The United States Supreme Court ruled unanimously Wednesday that a group of faith-based pregnancy centers is able to bring a First Amendment challenge against the New Jersey state government.
First Choice Women’s Resource Centers, the coalition at the heart of this case, describes itself as a “faith-based nonprofit” that provides “material support and medical services like ultrasounds and pregnancy tests under the direction of a licensed medical director.”
The group has attempted to bring a challenge against the New Jersey state government in federal court over its 2022 attempt to demand information regarding its fundraising practices in federal court.
The subpoena for this information came shortly after the creation of a “Reproductive Rights Strike Force” by the then-Attorney General of New Jersey, which went on to issue a “consumer alert” in which it accused groups like First Choice of “seek[ing] to prevent people from accessing comprehensive reproductive health care” by “provid[ing] false or misleading information about abortion.”
Despite directing anyone who believed they were “victim[s] of fraudulent, deceptive, misleading, or unlawful conduct” to “please file a complaint with the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs,” the state did not receive any complaints regarding First Choice.
Regardless, the state issued a subpoena against First Choice in 2023 for 28 categories of documents, including those that would “disclose documents reflecting the names, phone numbers, addresses, and places of employment of all individuals who had made ‘donations…to First Choice by any means other than through’ one specific webpage.”
The subpoena did not explain the purpose behind requesting such documents, but the Supreme Court explained that it was later revealed that the state intended to “contact a representative sample [of donors to] determine” if they had “been misled” by First Choice about its “mission and operations.”
First Choice alleges that the subpoena violates its rights under the First Amendment because it prompted the group to remove content from its YouTube channel and suggest that it would discourage donors from contributing due to concerns over their identities being revealed.
The permissibility of New Jersey’s subpoena, however, was not at issue in this case, only First Choice’s right to challenge it.
On Wednesday, Supreme Court Justices unanimously reversed course on a lower court’s block on First Choice’s lawsuit.
“Since the 1950s, this Court has confronted one official demand after another like the Attorney General’s,” the Court said in its opinion, authored by Justice Neil Gorsuch. “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,” said the Justices. “Some are old, some are new, but none succeeds.”
This case will now be sent back down to the lower court for further consideration in light of the Justice’s opinion.
