SCOTUS to hear pregnancy center’s case against New Jersey’s attorney general

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday said it would hear a New Jersey pregnancy center’s case against the state attorney general. The case stems from New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin’s decision to subpoena First Choice Women's Resource Centers, Inc., a faith-based pregnancy center. Platkin wanted confidential donor information, according to the legal nonprofit Alliance Defending Freedom, or ADF. First Choice refused, leading to a legal battle in both federal and state courts. ADF then filed a petition to the Supreme Court, asking it to hear the case.

What are the facts of the case? Platkin served the pregnancy center with an investigatory subpoena, demanding it hand over the names of donors behind about 5,000 donations. Platkin also wanted access to up to 10 years of confidential documents, according to ADF.

First Choice challenged the subpoena in federal court, arguing the state was depriving it of civil rights, according to Supreme Court documents. Meanwhile, the attorney general filed a lawsuit to enforce the subpoena in state court. Lower federal courts said the center had to pursue its constitutional challenges to the subpoena in state court first. But the state court sided with Platkin and didn’t address the federal constitutional challenges, according to ADF.

What is the Supreme Court being asked to decide? The court will evaluate whether Platkin’s subpoena unconstitutionally harmed the center’s First Amendment rights. It will also determine whether a federal court must wait for constitutional challenges to be adjudicated in state court, if the case was filed first in a federal court.