Supreme Court agrees to hear appeal from New Jersey faith-based pregnancy center
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court said Monday it will hear from a faith-based pregnancy center in New Jersey challenging a state investigation into whether it misled people into thinking its services included referrals for abortion.
The justices agreed to consider an appeal from First Choice Women's Resource Centers, which wants to block a 2023 subpoena from Democratic New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin seeking information about donors, advertisements and medical personnel. It has not yet been served.
The Supreme Court agreed to hear the case nearly three years after overturning abortion as a nationwide right. Since then, most Republican-controlled states have started enforcing new bans or restrictions, and most Democrat-dominated ones have sought to protect abortion access.
Attorneys for First Choice Women's Resource Centers had described the organization as a 'faith-based, pro-life pregnancy center.' Pregnancy centers generally try to steer women facing an unwanted pregnancy away from choosing an abortion.
The group challenged the subpoena in federal court, but a judge found that the case wasn't yet far enough along to weigh in. An appeals court agreed.
First Choice Women's Resource Centers appealed to the Supreme Court, saying the push for donor information had chilled its First Amendment rights.
'State attorneys general on both sides of the political aisle have been accused of misusing this authority to issue demands against their ideological and political opponents," its lawyers wrote. 'Even if these accusations turn out to be false, it is important that a federal forum exists for suits challenging those investigative demands.'
Meanwhile, Platkin has sought to enforce the subpoena in state court, but the judge there has so far refused the state's push to require the group to turn over documents and told the two sides to negotiate instead.
The state had asked the justices to pass on the case, saying it doesn't present the kind of significant lower-court controversy that requires the justices to step in.
'The decision below is correct and does not have the impacts petitioner alleges,' state attorneys wrote. The attorney general's office did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
The court will hear arguments in the case in the fall.
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Associated Press writer Mike Catalini in Trenton, N.J., contributed to this story.
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Follow the AP's coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court at https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court.
Lindsay Whitehurst, The Associated Press
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He played a major role in taxi drivers' successful 2021 push for debt relief. He helped win a pilot program for free bus rides — now a central plank in his mayoral campaign — but kiboshed its renewal when he cast a protest vote against last year's budget, rather than play ball with his colleagues and take the win. He also points to his support for a 2023 law that lets the state build its own green energy plants. 'That's not my legislation. The passage of it is not considered a bill that I have passed,' Mamdani said recently. 'I spent so much of my time fighting for it because I knew that, were we to pass it, we could actually take a real step towards taking on the climate crisis. And I think too often, much of our work in politics is focused on ensuring that you receive credit for the work that you do.' Despite his opinion, his lack of clearly delineated achievements has provided opponents with a ready-made cudgel. Cuomo has hammered Mamdani for passing only three laws in his time as an Assemblymember. That's the 235th highest total since he took office in a Legislature in which 213 members serve at a time. That apparent lack of productivity stems at least in part from the fact that he's a rank-and-file member in a legislative body where more than 100 Democrats want their bills prioritized. 'It's a pretty common experience for many legislators in their first few years in the Assembly or Senate to pass very few bills,' former Assemblymember Dick Gottfried said. Gottfried said assessing a lawmaker through the number of bills they approve isn't a great barometer of how they might perform as an executive: 'Every year in the Legislature, I personally got a lot of bills passed, but you would not have wanted me to be the mayor even of a small village.' But the lack of an in-depth passage record, coupled with the few bills he's authored, means Mamdani doesn't bring many specifics about his policy background for voters to glean. One of the three laws he's responsible for let the Museum of the Moving Image apply for a liquor license. Another allowed people to petition state agencies to hold public hearings. But he didn't come up with that idea — the legislation had been lingering since 1995 and had previously passed the Assembly 14 times under five different sponsors. His third bill, enacted in 2022, tweaked that 2021 law. Then, during the most recent legislative session, he passed a fourth bill — that would bump back the law's expiration date. The passage of the 2022 version of the petitioning law was the only time he's ever engaged in a back-and-forth debate during his time in the Legislature. He hoped the bill would leave 'New Yorkers feeling that they have a place in this government, that their voices are heard,' he said. 'This is, for me, the essence of socialism, which is the extension of democracy from the ballot box to the rest of our society of the ability of each and every person to have control over their own lives.' The remarks did not win over his detractors. 'Labeling this bill the extension of socialism makes me reaffirm my negative vote,' said then-Assemblymember Mike Lawler, his chief sparring partner in the debate. Mamdani has spoken on the floor on a handful of other bills over the years, and often his remarks focused on issues of identity — he voted against the Democrats' 2022 redistricting plan, for example, because it didn't create a new district for his fellow South Asians elsewhere in Queens. He criticized the governor's priorities in the state budget and supported legalized marijuana: 'Smoking or ingesting marijuana may also lead to becoming an elected official,' he said about claims that it's a gateway drug. By and large, Mamdani has remained outside regular power structures in Albany, meaning even those who deal with the Assembly the most can't predict what a Mamdani City Hall might look like. Lobbyists surveyed by POLITICO — including those supportive of causes he appears aligned with, like environmental and criminal justice issues — say they haven't engaged with him much, or even met him at all. His name only appears on Gov. Kathy Hochul's schedules once in the past four years, when attending a dinner joined by 21 members of the Queens delegation. One of the most important questions for any inexperienced executive is how they will fill out their administration. Former Gov. David Paterson, who went from the state Legislature to a high-level executive role — much like Mamdani hopes to — said those decisions can make or break an administration. 'The whole issue is about staff selection,' said Paterson, who's backing Cuomo. 'You may not be the brightest bulb in the chandelier but the other bulbs can work along with you.' Even Mamdani's supporters have emphasized he needs to fill his administration with experienced staff — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said she has 'made her expectations of the assemblymember quite clear' in that area. Nothing has tripped up past mayors in New York City more than tensions with the city's vast and complicated bureaucracy — from a sanitation strike during John Lindsay's tenure, to Bill de Blasio's early missteps with snowstorms. It will likely be difficult for somebody like Mamdani to walk into office with the trust of city employees, especially if they lack high-level staff already familiar with the intricacies of the municipal government. 'He'd have to spend a decade building relationships in the city,' said Brandon del Pozo, a Brown University professor and former NYPD deputy inspector. 'You have to have a legislative track record. You'd have to have meetings with the police and the labor unions. You have to do a lot of behind-the-scenes work.' A failure to lay those foundational building blocks means city employees like police officers may be skeptical of Mamdani from the get-go. 'Even though I don't think de Blasio had a great tenure — he still was able to convince people that he knew how New York City ran,' del Pozo said, pointing to the former mayor's time in institutions like the City Council. 'This is one of the most important cities in the world and the biggest and most complex city in the United States. So if you don't have the executive experience, you've got to have something else that really, really makes up for that.' Paterson noted how 'Cuomo described [electing Mamdani] as reckless and dangerous. It certainly would portend that would be the case.' But, he added, 'you just never know' when it comes to succeeding as an executive. 'The one thing he's been in charge of his campaign,' he said. 'That's working: He's in the game.' And nobody — not even the candidates themselves — actually know whether they're experienced enough to be an executive for the first time. 'When I did become governor, it felt that way: 'What am I doing here!?'' Paterson said. — Jeff Coltin contributed reporting
