This week, the National Rifle Association of America (NRA) is celebrating its "historic legal victory" in a federal court case against the "blacklisting campaign" Maria Vullo, New York's former Superintendent of the Department of Financial Services, levied against the organization in 2018.
"She contacted different banks and financial institutions and allegedly coerced them into dropping relations with the National Rifle Association," Dave Workman of the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) explains. "You can't be doing stuff like that, at least according to the Supreme Court."
"It was a campaign by the state's highest political officials to use their power to coerce a boycott of a political advocacy organization because they disagreed with its advocacy," an attorney for the NRA maintains.
In February 2023, after the Second Circuit dismissed the case, the NRA petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to review its decision. On November 3, 2023, the review was granted.
Now, the high court has unanimously agreed that the organization has a case against Vullo, who reportedly acted at the urging of former Governor Andrew Cuomo (D).
Workman says free speech and the First Amendment are in play, and the impact of this case goes beyond the NRA – which has gained the support of more than 190 individuals and organizations, including the liberal American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and dozens of congressional Republicans and 25 attorneys general.
"It can be faith based, or it could be an organization devoted to some other cause which may be unpopular with somebody in local or state government," Workman submits. "This kind of cools everybody's jets."
The NRA case now goes back to the lower court for further consideration.
As there have been cases of financial institutions cancelling accounts of Christian organizations, Workman suggests the ultimate decision in this case will have a trickle-down effect.
