A 25-state coalition Thursday urged the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to block the Corporate Transparency Act, as the legal battle pitting the Justice Department against red states and small business groups intensified.

The coalition, which includes Idaho, filed a friend-of-the court brief opposing the federal government’s motion to reinstate the Jan. 1 deadline for small businesses to submit reports to the Treasury Department.

The act will upset the constitutional balance between the states and federal government by allowing the Treasury Department to regulate entities that register with states, according to the red-state coalition.

The court received several other briefs Thursday from business organizations and conservative groups, also opposed to the act. The Justice Department restated its argument the act will benefit national security.

U.S. attorneys turned to the 5th Circuit for an emergency order after U.S. District Judge Amos Mazzant in East Texas issued a nationwide injunction Dec. 3 prohibiting Treasury from enforcing the reporting requirements.

Mazzant, an Obama appointee, held firm Tuesday, denying the government’s request to lift the stay. Mazzant said U.S. attorneys hadn’t given him any reason to reverse his ruling.

Mazzant invalidated a law Congress deemed essential to combating money laundering, terrorism financing, human and drug trafficking, and other crimes, U.S. attorneys told the 5th Circuit in a court filing.

Mazzant’s injunction comes just weeks before the reporting deadline and at the height of the government’s extensive outreach to alert businesses to the law, U.S. attorneys said.

The act requires businesses with 20 or fewer employees to submit the photos and personal information of owners and others with substantial control over the business to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. Businesses that fail to report can be fined $500 a day.

The network is compiling the records to share with domestic and foreign law enforcement agencies. The law will conform with international anti-money laundering standards, according to the Treasury Department.

The law’s opponents — who see the act as an intrusion on civil liberties and an overreach by Congress — include such farm groups as the American Farm Bureau, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and R-CALF.

At least nine federal lawsuits challenging the law are pending. In preliminary rulings, judges in Oregon and Virginia upheld the law, while Mazzant and an Alabama judge ruled it was likely unconstitutional.

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has held a hearing, but has not yet ruled. Attention shifted Thursday to the 5th Circuit, where the government is pressing its case to keep the Jan. 1 deadline.

The Treasury Department says an injunction will stall momentum in gaining compliance. It reports spending $4.3 million to publicize the law. About 10 million of the estimated 32.6 million businesses that must report have filed so far, according to the department.

The awareness campaign includes a public service announcement in which a cafe owner overhears two customers talking about the reporting requirements. “Does that include my cafe?” the owner asks.

A woman assures the owner reporting is “easy and free.” “It took me less than 20 minutes,” she says.

The 25-state coalition contends the law will be costly and time consuming. It scoffed at Treasury Department’s claim that understanding the law, compiling photos and information, and filling out forms will take 90 minutes for many businesses.

“Expecting all that to happen well before lunch on a single day is unrealistic — especially when a botched rush job could have severe consequences,” the states wrote.

The 25 states filing the brief are West Virginia, Kansas, South Carolina, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Wyoming.