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The Supreme Court has decided to determine whether New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin’s investigation of First Choice Women’s Resource Centers, a Christian, pro-life nonprofit, violates the First Amendment, Alliance Defending Freedom announced June 16.
ADF is representing the nonprofit in the case, which began after Platkin subpoenaed the pregnancy center, demanding that it submit the names behind nearly 5,000 donations and provide up to a decade of internal, confidential documents, according to ADF’s news release announcing the case’s elevation to the highest court of the land.
ADF contends that the demands Platkin made are burdensome and that he did not prove those demands are justified.
“New Jersey’s attorney general is targeting First Choice — a ministry that provides parenting classes, free ultrasounds, baby clothes, and more to its community — simply because of its pro-life views,” ADF Senior Counsel Erin Hawley, vice president of the ADF Center for Life and Regulatory Practice, said in the release. “The Constitution protects First Choice and its donors from unjustified demands to disclose their identities, and First Choice is entitled to vindicate those rights in federal court.”
The release explained that the pregnancy center tried to challenge the subpoena in federal court and Platkin filed a lawsuit in the state court. The lower federal courts decided that the pregnancy center needed to start with the state court.
ADF asked the Supreme Court in January to review the case and determine that the pregnancy center can first appeal to federal courts when it believes a state has violated its constitutional rights — which in this case, Hawley argues, are the right to free speech, the freedom of assembly, and the freedom of religion, and its ability to “continue to provide its free services in a caring and compassionate environment to people facing unplanned pregnancies.”
In a Jan. 22 release, ADF noted that First Choice sent 2,300 pages of documents to Platkin and filed the lawsuit in federal court to try to defend itself against his attempt to procure more documents.
“The lower courts have wrongly held that First Choice is relegated to state court to present its constitutional claims,” Hawley added. “We are looking forward to presenting our case to the Supreme Court and urging it to hold that First Choice has the same right to federal court as any other civil rights plaintiff.”
>> ADF defends Christian pregnancy center in federal court against subpoena from NJ attorney general <<