U.S. District Judge Michael Simon in Portland has declined to grant a preliminary injunction to block the Commerce Department from enforcing the Corporate Transparency Act in Oregon.

Simon said in a written order Sept. 20 the seven Oregonians challenging the national reporting law are unlikely to prevail. Congress passed the law to prevent crimes, according to Simon.

He noted Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden and four other Democrats submitted a friend-of-the-court brief defending the law. “Congress’ determination is entitled to substantial deference from this court,” Simon wrote.

The act requires small business owners and others with substantial control over the businesses to submit photo identification and other personal information to the federal Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.

The database will help U.S. and foreign investigators uncover phony businesses fronting for drug smuggling, human trafficking and other high-level crimes, according to the Commerce Department.

Eight lawsuits have been filed in federal courts across the country, alleging the act infringes on constitutional rights, including the Fourth Amendment’s protection from searches without warrants or probable cause.

In the most significant ruling so far, U.S. District Judge Liles Burke in Northern Alabama last spring ruled Congress exceeded its authority to regulate commerce and foreign affairs.

Burke stopped his analysis after finding one reason to declare the act unlawful.

Simon’s preliminary order was the first to address other constitutional issues. He agreed with government lawyers that the act was similar to a law requiring banks to report cash transactions of more than $10,000.

The Supreme Court upheld the law in 1974, ruling groups can’t plead an unqualified right to conduct their affairs in secret, according to Simon.

“Indeed, one of the CTA’s lead sponsors repeatedly made the case that the United States was in a ‘clash of civilizations’ between the rule of law and criminality and kleptocracy and was endangered in that clash by financial secrecy,” he wrote.

Julie Parrish, an attorney for the seven Oregonians, said Tuesday she was disappointed with the ruling and will discuss with the plaintiffs the next step.

She said she disagreed that Congress was owed deference in this case. “Just to say Congress did their homework doesn’t make them right,” Parrish said.

The bank-reporting law is narrowly focused on large transactions at financial institutions, she said. The CTA requires citizens to submit personal information to criminal investigators merely because they registered a corporation with the state, she said.

“If that doesn’t deserve a Fourth Amendment analysis, I don’t know what does,” she said.

Burke’s order staying the act only applied to members of the National Small Business Association, which brought the suit. Other businesses, an estimated 32 million, must submit reports by Jan. 1 or face fines.

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear the government’s appeal of Burke’s ruling Friday. Parrish said she suspects lawyers in that case will discuss Simon’s ruling.

The American Farm Bureau submitted a friend-of-the-court brief asking the appeal court to affirm Burke’s ruling.