 |
| Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images |
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas pressed a representative of the New Jersey Attorney General’s office to admit on Tuesday that the state had no basis to investigate a pro-life pregnancy center.
Sundeep Iyer, chief counsel to the state attorney general, conceded that they did not receive a single complaint about First Choice Women’s Resource Centers before issuing a subpoena for its donors, though they received complaints about other centers.
“So you had no basis to think that they were deceiving any of their contributors?” Thomas probed. Iyer said the center’s public website appeared misleading.
In First Choice Women’s Resource Centers v. Platkin, the justices are weighing whether a state court must enforce New Jersey’s subpoena before the pregnancy center can challenge it in federal court.
Democratic New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin issued a subpoena in November 2023 directing the pregnancy center to turn over years worth of internal documents, including information associated with nearly 5,000 donations, according to the center’s petition.
The center argues the subpoena chills their First Amendment rights and violates their right of association. New Jersey claims the subpoena is not self-executing and can’t yet be challenged in federal court.
Justice Thomas forces the New Jersey AG's chief counsel to admit the state issued a subpoena for a pro-life pregnancy center's donors without receiving a single complaint about the organization.
— Katelynn Richardson (@katesrichardson) December 2, 2025
"So you had no basis to think that they were deceiving any of their contributors?"… pic.twitter.com/oN5TAt1RPm
A majority of justices seemed sympathetic to the pregnancy center’s challenge.
“An ordinary person, one of the funders of this organization or any similar organization, presented with this subpoena and then told ‘but don’t worry, it has to be stamped by a court,’ is not going to take that as very reassuring,” Justice Elena Kagan said. --->READ MORE HERE
 |
| McLennan Community College/YouTube |
In a stunning admission, Iyer acknowledged that the New Jersey AG’s office hasn’t ‘had complaints about this specific center.’
Associate Justice Clarence Thomas has often employed simple questions to underscore key factual points during oral arguments before the Supreme Court. And on Tuesday, he did just that.
The most recent example came during the high court’s hearing for First Choice Women’s Resource Centers, Inc. v. Platkin, which centers around New Jersey’s targeting of the state-based First Choice Women’s Resource Centers. As The Federalist previously reported, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin, a Democrat, issued a sweeping subpoena to the pro-life organization seeking “years’ worth” of data, such as internal communications and details on First Choice donors. The subpoena was part of an investigation based on “concerns” that the group was misleading its donors.
First Choice filed a suit in federal court, alleging the subpoena sought to chill its First Amendment rights and “associations with donors.” The group ultimately appealed to SCOTUS after a federal district court and the Third Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed its suit as “unripe.” Both lower courts argued that the matter couldn’t be examined in federal court due to ongoing state proceedings and the fact that the subpoena against First Choice had yet to be enforced.
In his line of questioning to Platkin’s chief counsel, Sundeep Iyer, Thomas asked the defendant about the Democrat attorney general’s rationale for investigating First Choice to begin with. He specifically probed whether Platkin received “any complaints that formed the basis of [his] concern about the fundraising activities [by First Choice].”
Iyer seemingly attempted to skirt the senior justice’s question. He began by saying that they “certainly had complaints about crisis pregnancy centers,” but was cut off by Thomas, who more specifically asked about “this crisis pregnancy center.”
In a stunning admission, Iyer acknowledged that the New Jersey AG’s office hasn’t “had complaints about this specific [center],” claiming he “thinks” this was made “clear from the outset.” The answer prompted Thomas to interject and ask, “So, you had no basis to think that [First Choice was] deceiving any of their contributors?”
Iyer disagreed with Thomas’ summation and claimed that Platkin and his team “had carefully canvassed all of the public information that is provided on the website of First Choice in making a determination that we wanted to initiate an investigation.” --->READ MORE HERE
If you like what you see, please "Like" and/or Follow us on FACEBOOK here, GETTR here, and TWITTER here.
No comments:
Post a Comment