The U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments Wednesday in a major campaign disclosure case that tests whether the Constitution protects the anonymity of people who sign petitions to get an initiative on the ballot.

In our state Constitution, citizens reserve much power for themselves. They can overturn legislative acts, and craft laws themselves through the initiative process. One such effort, in 1972, created the pioneering Public Disclosure Act.

The fight for marriage rights for gay couples will reach the United States Supreme Court in April 2010—sort of. The Court will hear arguments challenging Washington state’s Public Records Act, which was broadly approved by a voter initiative in 1972 as part of a campaign to increase transparency and openness in the state’s government and elections.

Idaho has much at stake in Washington’s big U.S. Supreme Court case over whether referendum petition signatures should be public or not. “Our initiative and referendum statute is very similar to Washington’s and Oregon’s,” said Idaho Secretary of State Ben Ysursa, at whose request Idaho joined 22 other states in filing “friend of the court” briefs backing Washington’s position – that the signatures remain public.

In a locked government office, in boxes, are petitions signed by 138,000 people that gave voters the final say on a controversial gay-rights law last year.

The U.S. Supreme Court this week will hear a Washington state case that could decide whether signing a petition for a ballot measure is a private, political act or whether the names of those signers can be made public.

Jolene Unsoeld knows a little something about circulating initiative petitions. And about open government. Unsoeld was one of the driving forces that put Initiative 276, the Washington’s pioneering Public Disclosure Act, on the ballot 38 years ago.

If you thought things have gotten bad with campaign financing since the Supreme Court turned on the corporate money spigot in the Citizens United case, you ain’t seen nothing yet.