WHO: Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys
WHAT: Available for media interviews following oral arguments in First Choice Women’s Resource Centers v. Platkin
WHEN: Immediately following oral arguments, which begin at 10 a.m. EST, Tuesday, Dec. 2
WHERE: Outside U.S. Supreme Court, 1 First St. NE, Washington. Additional spokespeople will be available for 1:1 interviews outside the court after oral arguments. To schedule an interview, contact ADF Media Relations Manager Hattie Troutman at (771) 200-7630.
WASHINGTON – Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing First Choice Women’s Resource Centers, a collection of five faith-based pregnancy centers in New Jersey, will be speaking Tuesday at a press conference outside the U.S. Supreme Court immediately following oral arguments in First Choice Women’s Resource Centers v. Platkin.
In the case, First Choice is asking the Supreme Court to allow it to challenge in federal court an unconstitutional, predatory subpoena issued by New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin. He demanded that First Choice disclose the names, phone numbers, addresses, and places of employment of many of its donors, in addition to up to 10 years of its internal confidential documents.
“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,” said ADF Senior Counsel Erin Hawley, vice president of the ADF Center for Life and Regulatory Practice, who will be arguing before the Supreme Court. “The Constitution protects First Choice and its donors from demands by a hostile state official to disclose donor identities and contact information, and First Choice is entitled to vindicate those rights in federal court. We’re 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.”
“For more than two years, Attorney General Platkin has been targeting First Choice with aggressive demands for sensitive documents, including our donors’ identities,” said First Choice Executive Director Aimee Huber, who will also be speaking at the press conference. “He has gone to great lengths to frustrate the important work we do—work that has made a tangible, life-saving difference for tens of thousands of New Jersey women and their children. The government can’t harass those who support pro-life ministries just because it disagrees with their message and their mission.”
For decades, the Supreme Court has recognized the right to maintain the confidentiality of one’s donors or members from government disclosure demands. And for more than a century, Congress has guaranteed that federal courts can decide claims of unconstitutional treatment at the hands of state officials. Despite this, the lower courts’ decisions under review in the First Choice case keep victims of abusive investigations out of federal court.
First Choice tried to challenge the demand in federal court, but the trial court and court of appeals said that First Choice must pursue its federal claims in state court first. ADF is asking the Supreme Court to affirm that civil rights plaintiffs do not need to raise challenges to state investigations in state court before they can bring federal claims—the same standard that applies to any other person suffering constitutional injury at the hands of a state official.
Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.
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