It doesn't look like South Dakotans will find out who gave $750,000 to the 2006 campaign to ban abortions.

Monday, Sioux Falls circuit judge Kathleen Caldwell ruled in favor of state Representative Roger Hunt, who formed Promising Future Inc. three years ago. The corporation had one shareholder who gave $750,000 to the 2006 Vote Yes For Life campaign. South Dakota Secretary of State Chris Nelson argued it was a corporate 'shell' to hide the identity of the donor.

It's been a three-year legal fight, but the donor who gave three quarters of a million dollars to the 2006 campaign to ban abortions is still anonymous.

"It's been a long road and we're happy to have come to this end of the road," Roger Hunt's attorney, Steve Sanford, said.

This is the second time Sioux Falls Circuit Judge Kathleen Caldwell ruled in their favor. She dismissed the case in 2007, saying the laws in 2006 did not require Hunt to reveal the name.

The decision was appealed to the Supreme Court, which sent the case back to Caldwell. Caldwell now says forcing Hunt to reveal the name of the donor would violate the First Amendment. Sanford agrees, saying what Hunt did was legal under the 2006 law and the state was trying to force Hunt to reveal the name and admit he formed the corporation to hide the donor's identity.

"If you could make a political contribution that you thought is legal and then spend the next two years like we have and the amount of money that's been spent arguing what was in your mind, you'd think, 'Gee, maybe I won't make the contribution,' and it's that chilling effect that is offensive to what our country stands for," Sanford said.

Secretary of State Chris Nelson is surprised by the decision.

"We go into any enforcement action with the belief that the statutes are constitutional and this is an issue that arose during the course of this proceeding and the judge at this point says it's not consitutional and can't be enforced," Nelson said.

At this point, Nelson hasn't decided if an appeal will be next in this long legal fight.

"I need to sit down with the Attorney General and we'll go through this decision and look at what the judge had to say and what the reasoning was behind it and we'll see where we go from here," Nelson said.

The state legislature has already changed the law so that a similar situation will not happen again.