The Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously found a New York state official likely violated the free speech rights of the National Rifle Association by pressuring banks and insurers to cut ties with the gun-rights organization after the Parkland, Fla., high school massacre in 2018.<\/p>\n
Justice Sonia Sotomayor, writing for the justices, said the court was reaffirming a six-decade-old precedent that government officials cannot use their substantial powers to try to quash points of view they do not like.<\/p>\n
\u201cGovernment officials cannot attempt to coerce private parties in order to punish or suppress views the government disfavors,\u201d Sotomayor wrote. She added the NRA plausibly alleged the government official \u201cdid just that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The court returned the case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, where the NRA is pursuing a claim that Maria Vullo, the former superintendent of the New York Department of Financial Services (DFS), trampled the organization\u2019s First Amendment rights.<\/p>\n
The appeals court had previously sided with Vullo \u2014 who argued she was acting properly in enforcing the law and expressing her policy views \u2014 and dismissed the NRA\u2019s lawsuit.<\/p>\n
In a case of strange legal bedfellows, the conservative NRA teamed up with the liberal American Civil Liberties Union to challenge Vullo\u2019s actions. The ACLU said Vullo had abused her authority and set a dangerous precedent that other states might follow.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the court had allowed New York to blacklist a powerful organization like the NRA, government officials would have had even greater power to target less powerful organizations \u2014 especially those who speak for our most vulnerable communities,\u201d the ACLU said in a statement after the ruling.<\/p>\n
As DFS superintendent, Vullo had broad powers to regulate insurance companies and financial service institutions doing business in New York, including referring cases for prosecution, announcing civil charges and entering into consent decrees.<\/p>\n
Vullo began investigating NRA-affiliated insurers for violations in 2017, but the case truly got rolling after the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. The NRA and other gun advocacy groups experienced an intense backlash following the tragedy.<\/p>\n
The NRA contends Vullo pressured insurers to cut their ties with the organization and met with executives of insurance companies doing business with the NRA to make her position clear.<\/p>\n
In one meeting, Vullo told executives she wanted to leverage the power of DFS to combat the availability of guns and weaken the NRA, according to the Supreme Court decision. She also allegedly said she would be less likely to pursue regulatory action against insurers that did not have ties to the NRA.<\/p>\n
Vullo followed up by issuing regulatory guidance and a press release, along with then-New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D), urging companies not to do business with the NRA.<\/p>\n
Some insurance companies subsequently severed their ties with the NRA. The NRA then sued Vullo, DFS and Cuomo.<\/p>\n
The District Court denied Vullo\u2019s motion to dismiss the NRA\u2019s claim that she violated the First Amendment by coercing entities regulated by DFS in an attempt to punish the NRA. The Second Circuit then reversed that ruling, and the NRA appealed to the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n
Neal Katyal, an attorney for Vullo, said the ruling was disappointing and the NRA\u2019s allegations about the meeting with executives are false.<\/p>\n
\u2018Ms. Vullo did not violate anyone\u2019s First Amendment rights. Ms. Vullo enforced the insurance law against admitted violations by insurance entities, and industry letters such as those issued by Ms. Vullo are routine and important tools regulators use to inform and advise the entities they oversee about risks.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vullo\u2019s attorneys also wrote in a brief to the high court that Vullo did not coerce the companies.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey did not threaten that DFS would take any action against any entity for not severing those ties,\u201d the brief says. \u201cAnd indeed, DFS took no such action.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sotomayor\u2019s opinion in National Rifle Association of America v. Vullo makes clear that Vullo is free to criticize the NRA and pursue violations of New York insurance law, but says she overstepped when she threatened to wield her power against the NRA\u2019s gun advocacy.<\/p>\n
That distinction is significant in balancing free speech and government action, Alex Abdo, litigation director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, said in a statement.<\/p>\n
He called the ruling \u201can important decision that reaffirms the bedrock First Amendment rule that the government may not coerce others to suppress constitutionally protected speech.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe ruling also appropriately recognizes that, while the government may not employ coercion, it must be allowed to attempt to persuade the public of its views,\u201d Abdo said. \u201cOur government could not govern effectively if it were not permitted to speak out, forcefully, on the topics of the day.\u201d<\/p>\n
The case was one of two before the Supreme Court this term dealing with the government and free speech. In Murthy v. Missouri, the court will decide whether the Biden administration coerced social media platforms into muzzling free speech in an effort to crack down on misinformation. A decision is expected by the end of June.<\/p>\n
Ann Marimow contributed to this report.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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