Citing the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United, a federal judge has upheld an Illinois law that requires disclosing contributions to groups that engage in "electioneering communication."

The judge, ruling from Chicago, noted that the Supreme Court earlier this year defended such disclosures when ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. That ruling struck down decades-old restrictions on corporate, association and labor union spending in federal campaigns. The court's 5-4 majority opinion, however, upheld FEC disclosure rules for electioneering communications.

The Center for Individual Freedom - an Alexandria, Va.-based conservative, nonprofit organization that is active in state judicial campaigns - asked the court for a preliminary injunction against the state law, which requires disclosing contributions to groups that engage in "electioneering communications" -  messages referring to state candidates just before an election.

Judge William Hart of the U.S. District Court for Northern Illinois rejected the group's request, noting that "the Supreme Court expressly rejected the contention that election-law disclosure requirements are limited to express advocacy or its functional equivalent."

The Alexandria group, which plans to appeal, claims the law is unconstitutional because it's not limited to "express advocacy" messages that explicitly call for a vote for or against a candidate. The group also says the law is unfair because it specifically exempted labor unions from disclosure requirements.

A copy of the opinion is available at http://op.bna.com/der.nsf/r?Open=sfre-88wstd.