Legal/Law/Criminal Justice and Reform

Supreme Court Takes Up Pro-Life Pregnancy Center’s Challenge To Blue State Investigation

Wikimedia Commons/Joe Ravi

The Supreme Court agreed Monday to consider New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin’s demand for a pro-life pregnancy center to disclose its donors.

Platkin issued a subpoena in November 2023 directing First Choice Women’s Resource Centers to turn over years of internal documents, including the names behind nearly 5,000 donations, without identifying any complaints against the center, according to the center’s lawsuit.

“State law authorizes attorneys general to issue investigative demands based on a subjective suspicion of wrongdoing or a subjective determination that the demand is in the public interest,” the center wrote in their petition. “In recent years, state attorneys general have made increasing use of these broad investigative powers—sometimes employing them to target political opponents.”

Platkin has “made no secret of his hostility towards pregnancy centers,” the petition notes.

“He issued a consumer alert—drafted with the help of Planned Parenthood—complaining that such centers do not provide or refer for abortion,” it continues. “He also signed an open letter pledging to take legal action against pregnancy centers.”

The Third Circuit Court of Appeals previously held that it could not hear the center’s complaint until the state court enforced Platkin’s subpoena. Platkin argued in a brief that the subpoena “is not self-executing; it can only be enforced by a New Jersey state court, and Petitioner faces no penalties for noncompliance with the subpoena unless and until a judicial order mandating the production of documents issues.”

First Choice “has for years refused to answer questions about their operations in New Jersey and the potential misrepresentations they have been making, including about reproductive healthcare,” Platkin said in a statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation.

“The question before the U.S. Supreme Court focuses on whether First Choice sued prematurely, not whether our subpoena was valid,” Platkin said. “I am optimistic that we will prevail when the Supreme Court considers that question this fall. First Choice is looking for a special exception from the usual procedural rules as it tries to avoid complying with an entirely lawful state subpoena, something the U.S. Constitution does not permit it to do.”

Alliance Defending Freedom senior counsel Erin Hawley said in statement Monday that Platkin 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.”

“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,” Hawley said.