Bad news for anti-choice extremist David Daleiden and his Orwellian “Center for Medical Progress” today. Their appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court asking for the National Abortion Federation’s discovery process to be blocked has been denied, and they’ve been ordered to turn over the names of all the people with whom they shared the NAF’s confidential information, including the deceptively edited “sting” videos at the heart of the Republican Party’s recent Planned Parenthood witch hunts.

CMP has thus far refused to identify those individuals despite repeatedly being ordered to do so by the district court, claiming they had a First Amendment “right of association” to refuse to disclose these individuals because they were “donors” and “critical supporters” of CMP’s “activities.”  The Ninth Circuit squarely rejected these arguments, and held that the individuals in question were “intimately involved in the planning and funding of the Center’s alleged conspiracy.”

This is the second time in two months that CMP and David Daleiden have attempted to shut down discovery that the district court held is “essential” to our pending preliminary injunction motion.  The district court has described CMP and David Daleiden’s conduct in litigation as a “shell game” and an effort on their part to “hide the ball.”

“Every day that the defendants refuse to disclose who they gave access to our confidential information puts our members in harm’s way,” said NAF President and CEO Vicki Saporta. “Given the recent attack at one of the Planned Parenthood affiliates who was featured in the defendants’ discredited videos, it is more important than ever to protect the safety and security of our members.”

Since July, NAF has been seeking a preliminary injunction, which would prohibit CMP, David Daleiden, and others from releasing recordings and materials they illegally obtained at NAF’s educational meetings. The preliminary injunction hearing is now scheduled for December 18.

This is also bad news for horrible right wing troll Chuck C. Johnson, because the NAF is currently seeking to depose him to find out who supplied him with the CMP’s videos, and recent filings make it clear they strongly suspect Johnson and Daleiden directly conspired together.

Here’s the court’s ruling: