BELLEVUE, WA – The Second Amendment Foundation has filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in a case involving the alleged abuse of New Jersey’s consumer protection law against a private business by state Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin.
SAF cites its own history of harassment by the office of Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson, also under the guise of consumer protection, in what appears to be an effort to silence opposition to Ferguson’s policies on gun control.
In the case of First Choice Women’s Resource Centers v. Platkin, the issue involves alleged harassment of the pro-life medical non-profit serving pregnant mothers, mothers of newborns, and fathers. The group asserts that Platkin has issued a “wide-ranging, unfounded and burdensome subpoena” requiring them to “expend limited resources to produce extensive documentation or face judicial sanctions” while not referring to “any substantive evidence of wrongdoing to justify his onerous demands.”
In its brief, prepared by attorneys Victoria E. Ainsworth, Jeffrey B. Coopersmith and Steven W. Fogg at Corr Cronin in Seattle, SAF goes through its own history with Ferguson, a Democrat who is now running to become the next Washington governor. SAF explains to the high court that Ferguson’s office “has issued excessively broad civil investigative demands (CID) to SAF, citing Washington’s consumer protection laws.”
The brief further notes, “Recipients seeking to challenge unlawful state investigative demands and recover damages arising from the infringement of their constitutional rights face significant obstacles in obtaining federal review…”
“Private entities at political odds with public officials who weaponize consumer protection or other laws to harass, intimidate and silence opposing viewpoints must be given some avenue to resist what amounts to legal tyranny,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “We are in complete sympathy with the First Choice Centers because we have experienced the same thing. We’re urging the Supreme Court to provide relief and stop this nonsense.”