The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to review New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin’s (D) subpoena seeking donor records from a network of anti-abortion clinics.
In a brief order, the justices said they will examine whether First Choice Women’s Resource Centers can mount a First Amendment challenge in federal court.
Lower judges ruled the group’s free speech claim was not ripe because it could be brought in state court instead, but First Choice warned that holding would create a “Catch-22” that prevents a federal judge from ever reviewing the subpoena’s constitutionality.
“For a century and a half, Congress has provided the targets of a state official’s malfeasance with a federal forum in which to raise their constitutional claims,” the group wrote in its petition. “Yet the Third and Fifth Circuits have eliminated that forum for the targets of state investigative demands.”
Platkin’s office issued the subpoena as it investigates whether First Choice is violating New Jersey’s consumer fraud and other state laws by misleading donors and potential clients about what health services it provides.
