The question
Whether a religious nonprofit has established a present injury in fact sufficient for Article III standing to challenge a state Attorney General's subpoena demanding its private donor information.
First Choice Women’s Resource Centers, Inc. v. Davenport
What the Court decided
First Choice, a religious nonprofit, has standing to challenge New Jersey's subpoena for its donor records. The Court held that the state's demand for the private donor information caused a present, ongoing injury to the group's First Amendment associational rights, which satisfies Article III's injury-in-fact requirement. Government demands for a charity's private donor information inevitably discourage association with groups engaged in protected advocacy, and that burden on constitutional rights is itself the injury.
How the justices split
UnanimousThe Court's opinion
Gorsuch, joined by Roberts, Thomas, Alito, Sotomayor, Kagan, Kavanaugh, Barrett, Jackson
The Attorney General's subpoena for First Choice's private donor information causes a present, ongoing injury to the group's First Amendment associational rights, which satisfies the injury-in-fact element of Article III standing. An injury in fact arises when a defendant burdens a plaintiff's constitutional rights, and government demands for a charity's private donor information have that effect because they inevitably discourage association with groups engaged in protected advocacy and encourage groups to modify or cease disfavored advocacy. Compelled disclosure of affiliation with advocacy groups has long been subject to heightened First Amendment scrutiny, and official demands for private donor information carry an inevitable deterrent effect on the exercise of First Amendment rights.
How we know · 5 sourced claims
The Court held First Choice established a present injury to its First Amendment associational rights sufficient to confer Article III standing.
Source: syllabus, Held
Justice Gorsuch delivered the opinion for a unanimous Court.
Source: syllabus, lineup
The case centers on the injury-in-fact element of standing, which requires an injury that is concrete, particularized, and actual or imminent.
Source: syllabus, Held
The Attorney General's subpoena commanded First Choice to produce 28 categories of documents, including the names, phone numbers, addresses, and places of employment of donors who gave by means other than one specific webpage.
Source: syllabus, Held
The Court reasoned that government demands for a charity's private donor information inevitably discourage association with groups engaged in protected First Amendment advocacy.
Source: syllabus, Held