October 4, 2022 – First Amendment Watch, a project of Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute at New York University, published an article chronicling the NRA's First Amendment lawsuit against former New York Department of Financial Services Superintendent Maria Vullo. On September 22, 2022, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reversed a lower court decision and dismissed claims against Vullo individually.
The case stems from the 2018 “blacklisting campaign” against the NRA, in which, the NRA alleges, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and Vullo attempted to coerce banks and other financial institutions from doing business with the NRA. As is noted by First Amendment Watch, a host of legal experts, including the ACLU, sided with the NRA and recognized the implications of such actions.
As reported, NRA attorney William A. Brewer III of Brewer, Attorneys & Counselors described the Second Circuit decision as “unfortunate” because Vullo never sat for a deposition to share what may have been happening behind closed doors.
Brewer further told First Amendment Watch that the issue at hand is that government officials should not single out opposing viewpoints and then use their power to silence them. “He [Cuomo] clearly targeted his longtime adversary, the NRA, and enlisted Vullo,” Brewer said.
Although the NRA’s claims against Cuomo are not encompassed by this ruling, the decision will, the NRA believes, encourage exactly the corrupting effects scholars have warned against.
The NRA, according to Brewer, is weighing all of its options and “anxiously wants to get the case to trial against former Gov. Cuomo.” First Amendment Watch reports that, in regard to this decision, the NRA could either file a motion to rehear en banc, meaning the entire court reconsiders the case, or accept the decision and file a writ of certiorari.
“I think there’s little or no chance that the NRA will not pursue one of those options given how important this precedent is,” Brewer said. If none of them is successful, he believes “there’s a significant likelihood that the NRA would take this up to the Supreme Court, where the NRA is no stranger.”
Read the report here.