Supreme Court seems sympathetic to case of group of faith-based pregnancy centers
New Jersey’s First Choice Women’s Resource Centers at center of fight over subpoena
A faith-based group of nonprofit faith-based anti-abortion pregnancy centers won a favorable hearing before the U.S. Supreme Court yesterday in a case that has drawn plenty of attention from not only from religious groups but also from groups across the political spectrum concerned about potential encroachments to freedom of speech.
During oral arguments yesterday in the case of First Choice Women’s Resource Centers v. Platkin, a majority of justices appeared sympathetic to the arguments of First Choice, which has been fighting a subpoena issued by New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin in 2023. Platkin, who has been a critic of pregnancy centers that seek to dissuade women from having abortions, had issued the subpoena seeking donor lists as part of an effort to determine whether First Choice has been providing misleading information to potential donors.
The case facing the high court hinges on a technical issue: whether First Choice can immediately challenge the subpoena in federal court or whether it must fight the subpoena in state courts before it can seek a federal judicial remedy. First Choice claims that the subpoena is a threat to the free-speech rights of donors, who may be intimidated and therefore discouraged from making donations if their identities were revealed. Like most nonprofits, First Choice normally isn’t required to make public its list of donors.
Among the justices seeming to sympathize with First Choice was the chief justice, John Roberts. “You don’t think it might have a future effect on donors if their name, addresses and phone number is disclosed?” he asked Sundeep Iyer of the New Jersey attorney general’s office.
Unlike many cases coming before the Supreme Court, this one doesn’t raise typical right-vs.-left concerns, as activists of all kinds can be concerned about freedom of speech. Although First Choice is being represented in part by the Alliance Defending Freedom, an organization that has supported many conservative religious causes, those who have sided with First Choice include the American Civil Liberties Union and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.
Erin Hawley, an attorney representing First Choice, criticized the New Jersey subpoena in part for its sweeping nature. “That is a death knell for nonprofits like First Choice,” she said.
Iyer argued frequently on highly technical grounds, claiming in part that First Choice had yet to face any harm from the subpoena. He also predicted that if the high court were to decide in favor of First Choice that federal courts could be inundated with challenges to state subpoenas.
The Supreme Court will most likely issue its decision in the spring of next year.