The Hill Reports on NRA Countersuit Against New York Attorney General Letitia James
On February 24, 2021, The Hill reported that firm client, the National Rifle Association of America (NRA), filed a counter lawsuit against New York Attorney General Letitia James accusing her of "weaponizing" her power against the group.
Filed in the New York Supreme Court, the legal filing states, “James’s threatened, and actual, regulatory and civil reprisals are a blatant and malicious retaliation campaign against the NRA and its constituents based on her disagreement with the content of their speech. This wrongful conduct threatens to destroy the NRA and chill the speech of the NRA, its members, and other constituents, including like-minded groups and their members.”
William Brewer, counsel to the NRA, told The Hill in a statement that the group believes "the NYAG’s actions are retaliatory and reflect ‘selective use’ of regulatory oversight against the Association in violation of constitutional rights."
"The NRA will continue to confront the NYAG’s weaponization of power – to the benefit of the Association, its millions of members, and all who believe in constitutional freedom," Brewer said.
The Hill Publishes Editorial Critical of the New York Attorney General's Lawsuit Against NRA
On August 8, 2020, The Hill published an editorial regarding the dissolution lawsuit that New York Attorney General Letitia James filed against Brewer's client, the NRA.
Written by George Washington University Professor of Public Interest Law Jonathan Turley, the editorial, titled "The Tragic Irony of the New York State Lawsuit Against the NRA," is critical of James for "politicizing her office." It notes that she referred to the NRA as a “terrorist organization" -- an act, he states, of "legal trolling."
Turley writes, "That is what makes the NRA complaint so tragically ironic: If using power to benefit yourself rather than your organization is the measure, James’s complaint is a self-indictment. Her demand to dissolve the NRA undermines the case presented by her office, in order to pander to voters. While dissolution is absurd, James has shown that absurdity and popularity often go hand-in-hand in New York politics."
Turley further states, "Trying to dissolve or criminalize an organization engaged in the exercise of political speech should not occur absent overwhelming proof that it is a criminal enterprise."