By Bart Jansen, CQ Staff

When contributors hand over money to a trade group that’s lobbying on a bill before Congress, the public has a right to know who’s putting up that cash, a federal appeals panel has ruled.

In an opinion issued Tuesday, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld a relatively recent law requiring public donor lists.

The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) had challenged the disclosure provision in the 2007 ethics overhaul law (PL 110-81), arguing that the First Amendment’s guarantee of the right to petition Congress means that financial backers of lobbying efforts should be allowed to remain anonymous.

The judges said that a Supreme Court decision more than 50 years ago, United States vs. Harriss, found that “who is being hired, who is putting up the money, and how much” to influence legislation are “a vital national interest.”

“Because nothing has transpired in the last half-century to suggest that the national interest in public disclosure of lobbying information is any less vital than it was when the Supreme Court first considered the issue, we reject that challenge,” said the 48-page appellate opinion.

The goal of the current law’s provision was to learn more about who was funding lobbying campaigns that were sometimes hidden behind bland names of advocacy groups.

Failing to comply with the disclosure law could result in a $200,000 fine and as many as five years in prison.

While the court case was pending, NAM made a filing under the law that named 65 of its member contributors.

NAM spokesman Hank Cox said the group was disappointed with the decision and hasn’t decided whether to appeal further.

He said the group still feels that the law intimidates people from participating in their First Amendment right to petition government.

“We think it’s a problem,” Cox said.