SCOTUS Confirms First Amendment Protects Pregnancy Center Donors From Nosey Abortion States:
‘Since the 1950s, this Court has confronted one official demand after another like the Attorney General’s. Over and again, we have held those demands burden the exercise of First Amendment rights,’ wrote Justice Gorsuch.
A New Jersey-based pro-life pregnancy center may proceed with its federal challenge to lawfare waged against it by the state’s Democrat attorney general, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled in a 25-page decision on Wednesday.
As The Federalist previously reported, First Choice Women’s Resource Centers, Inc. v. Platkin came about when New Jersey’s Democrat-run government began investigating First Choice Women’s Resource Centers over seemingly baseless concerns that it was misleading its donors and misrepresenting its services. This investigation culminated in then-Attorney General Matthew Platkin’s office issuing First Choice a subpoena in an attempt to strong-arm the nonprofit into doxxing its donors and forfeiting information to a state with a strong abortion activism agenda.
As Justice Neil Gorsuch noted in his majority opinion, the New Jersey Division of Affairs nor the Attorney General’s office documented any complaints against First Choice despite the state’s attempts to solicit them from alleged “victim[s] of fraudulent, deceptive, misleading, or unlawful conduct.” Yet, Platkin pursued a 2023 subpoena against the pregnancy center that demanded it “disclose documents reflecting the names, phone numbers, addresses, and places of employment of all individuals” who donated to the nonprofit outside of First Choice’s webpage.
First Choice tried to challenge the subpoena in a federal district court, citing concerns about sharing “constitutionally protected” materials. The pregnancy center’s donors also acknowledged across two declarations that they were nervous about New Jersey’s “record of hostility toward pro-life groups” and “would have been less likely to donate to First Choice if we had known information about the donation might be disclosed,” signaling the state’s chilling attempts to injure their First Amendment rights.
First Choice’s plea, however, was ultimately dismissed for a state court to handle. In December 2024, the 3rd Circuit similarly held that a federal court should not weigh in until state proceedings concluded.
In his majority opinion, Gorsuch was careful to note that the high bench was not ruling on the merits of the case. Instead, he determined that “First Choice has established a present injury to its First Amendment associational rights,” contrary to the rulings of lower courts.
“Since the 1950s, this Court has confronted one official demand after another like the Attorney General’s. Over and again, we have held those demands burden the exercise of First Amendment rights. Disputing none of these precedents but seeking ways around them, the Attorney General has offered a variety of arguments. Some are old, some are new, but none succeeds,” Gorsuch concluded. --->READ MORE HERE
Supreme Court unanimously slaps down blue state targeting pro-life group:
Justice Neil Gorsuch found the NJ attorney general's investigation into pregnancy counseling centers violated the First Amendment
The Supreme Court unanimously sided with a group of faith-based pregnancy centers on Wednesday that challenged the New Jersey attorney general’s investigation into whether the centers misled donors and the public about steering women away from having abortions.
The case was brought by First Choice Women's Resource Centers, a group of five Christian-based facilities in New Jersey that provide various pre-natal services to women facing unplanned pregnancies. The Supreme Court found the state investigation violated the centers' First Amendment rights, handing a victory to the pro-life movement, which had argued the probe rattled the centers' donors.
The opinion was narrow, finding that First Choice is now able to sue over the state investigation in federal court.
First Choice had argued that then-Attorney General Matt Platkin, a Democrat, had issued baseless subpoenas to the pregnancy centers for donor information. Platkin had contended that the facilities presented consumer fraud concerns that the state had broad authority to investigate.
Justice Neil Gorsuch, who authored the opinion, agreed with First Choice, saying the state-issued subpoenas breached the First Amendment.
"An official demand for private donor information is enough to discourage reasonable individuals from associating with a group. It is enough to discourage groups from expressing dissident views," Gorsuch wrote.
The high court's majority rebuked Platkin, saying his probe did not align with longstanding court precedent.
"Over and again, we have held those demands burden the exercise of First Amendment rights," Gorsuch wrote. "Disputing none of these precedents but seeking ways around them, the Attorney General has offered a variety of arguments. Some are old, some are new, but none succeeds." --->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