In First Choice Women’s Resource Centers Inc. v. Platkin, the Supreme Court unanimously held that a pro-life pregnancy center had standing to sue in federal court on its First Amendment challenge to an investigative subpoena by the New Jersey Attorney General that demanded the identities of the center’s donors. The case is a win for our firm on several levels: First & Fourteenth partner Lincoln Davis Wilson was part of the Alliance Defending Freedom team that represented First Choice in the Supreme Court, and partners Andrew Nussbaum and Chris Murray contributed supporting amicus briefs—for Save the Storks and a coalition of members of Congress, respectively.
First Choice is a faith-based, pro-life ministry that has served women in New Jersey since 1985 through counseling, resources, and practical support. Without having received a single complaint about First Choice, New Jersey targeted it with a subpoena demanding volumes of sensitive information, including identities of donors. But the lower federal courts held First Choice lacked standing to sue in federal court before the subpoena was enforced, and the state courts declined to decide First Choice’s federal rights. The Supreme Court granted review to decide the question of jurisdiction. In a 9-0 decision, the Court explained that government demands for private donor information can burden associational rights when they are made, not only after they are enforced
The ruling is significant not only for First Choice, but for all organizations facing similarly invasive state investigative demands. They do not have to wait until compelled disclosure before seeking federal protection for associational rights, and they have expanded tools to resist improper lawfare attacks by state officials.
Read Opinion Here: Resource Centers Inc. v. Platkin