The New York Times reported that Brewer, Attorneys & Counselors client the National Rifle Association (NRA) sued San Francisco on September 9, 2019, for allegedly violating the NRA’s First Amendment speech rights after the city’s board of supervisors declared the NRA a terrorist organization.
William Brewer, the NRA’s outside counsel, called the city’s action “an assault on all advocacy organizations across the country.”
The lawsuit was filed in United States District Court in San Francisco. The Times reported that the suit alleges that the city moved to “blacklist anyone linked to the N.R.A.” The suit also called the designation a “frivolous insult” but contended that “San Francisco’s actions pose a nonfrivolous constitutional threat.”
“In the face of recent, similar blacklisting schemes,” the lawsuit continued, “financial institutions have expressed reluctance to provide bank accounts for disfavored political groups, and city contractors fear losing their livelihoods if they support or even work with the N.R.A.”
The Washington Post also reported on the lawsuit, noting that the NRA alleges the resolution is “obviously unconstitutional.”
