Court Makes Liberal Heads Explode With 9-0 Ruling
The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday handed gun owners a major victory in a legal struggle between the National Rifle Association and the state of New York that tested the limits of the First Amendment.
In a unanimous 9-0 ruling, justices found that the NRA was within its rights to be removed from a blacklist it was placed on by New York to prevent the state’s Department of Financial Services from contracting with gun proponents in any way. Liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote for the majority, reasoning that it “holds that the NRA plausibly alleged that Vullo violated the First Amendment by coercing DFS-regulated entities to terminate their business relationships with the NRA in order to punish or suppress the NRA’s advocacy.”
“The judgment of the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit is vacated, and the case remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion,” the court said, Fox News reported. The decision allows the NRA to continue its appeal of the decision with a lower court.
The NRA in 2018 filed suit against New York after accusing Albany of punishing the organization over its partnership with a speaker whose views were anathema to Democrats in control of the legislature and governorship. The gun rights group argued in its complaint that the adverse regulatory action was a pernicious violation of the First Amendment: DFS Superintendent Maria T. Vullo blacklisted the NRA following orders from then-Governor Andrew Cuomo, forcing banks and insurers in the state to cut ties with the organization. “Guidance letters” sent by Vullo to those institutions came in the wake of the 2017 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida which claimed the lives of 17 students and became a focal point of the anti-gun movement.
“Six decades ago, this Court held that a government entity’s ‘threat of invoking legal sanctions and other means of coercion’ against a third party ‘to achieve the suppression’ of disfavored speech violates the First Amendment,” the court’s opinion states. “Today, the Court reaffirms what it said then: Government officials cannot attempt to coerce private parties in order to punish or suppress views that the government disfavors. Petitioner National Rifle Association (NRA) plausibly alleges that respondent Maria Vullo did just that.”
Right on cue, liberals on X began frothing at the mouth as they accused the “corrupt and illegitimate” court of trampling on the rights of gun victims.
“Their opinions mean nothing at this point as the court has become another arm of the MAGA movement towards fascism,” one individual wrote. “Cue another bad SCOTUS ruling. 🙄” another added. “The Supreme ‘Court’ is compromised,” said a third.
The SCOTUS is corrupt and illegitimate. Their opinions mean nothing at this point as the court has become another arm of the MAGA movement towards fascism.
— Dan Receptor (@HigherElevated) May 30, 2024
Cue another bad SCOTUS ruling. 🙄
— Art Candee 🍿🥤 (@ArtCandee) May 30, 2024
The Supreme “Court” is compromised
— Saro (@SethHenrySeth) May 30, 2024
The hot takes kept rolling in though failed to take into account why liberal justices appointed by former President Barack Obama and who have advised for gun control in the past would suddenly curry favor for the NRA.
