Lawyers representing David Daleiden asked Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy on Friday to block the order from the district judge. | M. Scott Mahaskey/POLITICO SCOTUS blocks appeal from man behind Planned Parenthood videos

The Supreme Court denied a request from the activist behind the Planned Parenthood sting videos to block a federal judge’s order to turn over the names of people who supported his work.

Lawyers representing David Daleiden had asked Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy on Friday evening to block the order from the district judge, which was upheld by an appeals panel Thursday.


The district judge ordered Daleiden to reveal the names of people with whom he shared confidential information that he obtained at conferences set up by the National Abortion Federation. The information is due by midnight Friday.

Over the summer, the federation sued Daleiden to block release of the videos he obtained at the group's conferences during his months-long project targeted at Planned Parenthood. Daleiden's organization, the Center for Medical Progress, released undercover footage collected at Planned Parenthood clinics.

Daleiden, who is joined in the suit by fellow Center for Medical Progress board member Troy Newman, argued that releasing the information would violate his First Amendment right to freedom of association and would put people at risk of “retaliation for backing CMP.”

The district judge had ordered Daleiden to turn over the names of people who received confidential information from the abortion federation. But Daleiden’s lawyers argue that those people are also the group’s supporters.

“Therefore, since these lists are one and the same,” the lawyers told the Supreme Court, “it would be ‘blatantly unconstitutional to compel CMP to disclose its ‘membership list,’” they wrote, citing other court rulings.

It's rare to ask the Supreme Court to block a discovery order. The request came in the wake of last week’s shooting at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado. According to media reports, the alleged gunman used the phrase “baby parts” after he was apprehended – an apparent reference to CMP videos.

