The Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Thursday that the National Rifle Association (NRA) has “plausibly argued” that the New York State Department of Financial Services violated the organization’s First Amendment rights by blacklisting it.
“We find that the NRA has plausibly alleged that Vullo violated the First Amendment by forcing DFS-regulated entities to terminate their business relationships with the NRA in order to punish or stifle the NRA’s claims,” the Supreme Court wrote in a unanimous opinion written by Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
“The judgment of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit is reversed and the case is remanded for further proceedings consistent with this judgment,” the court said, overturning the Second Circuit’s dismissal of the case and allowing the NRA to continue its arguments.
The case stems from a 2018 lawsuit filed by the NRA that questioned whether government regulators can threaten adverse regulatory action if they do business with regulated companies. Controversial SpeakerThis action, allegedly due to the government’s own hostility to the Speaker’s views, violates the First Amendment to the Constitution.
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The Supreme Court will convene in Washington on Wednesday, June 29, 2022. (AP Photo/Jacqueline Martin)
“Sixty years ago, this Court held that it violates the First Amendment when government agencies ‘threaten legal or other coercive measures’ against third parties ‘to suppress objectionable speech,'” the ruling read.
“Today, the Court reaffirms what it said then: government officials may not seek to coerce private citizens in order to punish or suppress opinions the government dislikes,” the court said. “Appellant the National Rifle Association plausibly alleges that respondent Maria Vullo did just that.”
The NRA sued Maria T. Vullo, then-New York State Commissioner of Financial Services, who allegedly blacklisted the NRA at the behest of former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, effectively forcing banks and insurance companies to cut ties with the group.
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U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor sided with the NRA in a unanimous decision. (Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
She sent a “guidance letter” to banks and insurance companies in 2018 urging them to sever ties with the NRA and other Second Amendment groups due to reputational risk. The guidance letter was issued shortly after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, that killed 17 students and staff.
The lawsuit alleges that Vullo made “closed-door threats” to regulated companies, offering leniency for unrelated violations if they agreed to be blacklisted by the NRA.
“As commissioner of the New York State Department of Financial Services, Vullo allegedly pressured regulated entities to help suppress the NRA’s pro-gun activities by threatening enforcement action against entities that refused to sever ties with the NRA and other pro-gun organizations,” the court said in its ruling issued Thursday.
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A sign is erected outside the National Rifle Association (NRA) annual convention, Friday, May 27, 2022, in Houston, Texas, USA. (Mark Felix/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“If these allegations are true, they constitute a violation of the First Amendment.”
The Supreme Court agreed in November to hear the case of National Rifle Association v. Vallo after a federal appeals court dismissed the group’s lawsuit in 2022, finding that Vallo’s actions were reasonable.
The Supreme Court announced Thursday that it had vacated the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling and remanded the case for further review in accordance with its ruling, meaning gun rights groups can continue to litigate in lower courts.
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The NRA garnered support from an unlikely ally: the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which opposes the NRA ideologically but said it was “proud” to defend the gun control group’s “right to speak.”
“While the ACLU disagrees with the NRA’s arguments, we are proud to defend the organization’s right to speak,” David Cole, legal director of the ACLU, which defended the NRA, said in a statement.
“Public officials cannot be allowed to abuse their regulatory power to blacklist organizations simply because they disagree with their political views. If New York were to allow the NRA to do this, it would set an example for other state officials to abuse their power to target groups they don’t like,” he said.
Fox News’ Shannon Bream and Bill Mears and Fox News Digital’s Emma Colton contributed to this report.
