Reason by Jacob Sullum | 9.10.2019
Yesterday the National Rifle Association filed a First Amendment lawsuit against the city of San Francisco, arguing that an anti-NRA resolution recently approved by the Board of Supervisors violates the constitutional rights to freedom of speech and freedom of association. By threatening to cut off government contractors with ties to the NRA, the complaint says, the city is retaliating against the organization for its political advocacy and chilling the speech of its supporters.
The resolution, which the supervisors unanimously approved last week, absurdly describes the NRA as a "domestic terrorist organization." Its sponsor, Supervisor Catherine Stefani, is a vehement critic of the NRA who views the organization as the chief obstacle to the gun control laws she favors.
The lawsuit asks for an injunction to prevent enforcement of the resolution, which urges city officials to "assess the financial and contractual relationships our vendors and contractors have" with the NRA and "limit those entities who do business with the City and County of San Francisco from doing business with this domestic terrorist organization." Insofar as that edict affects contractors who are sympathetic to the NRA, it violates the principle established by the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1996 case Board of County Commissioners v. Umbehr. "The First Amendment protects independent contractors from the termination of at-will government contracts in retaliation for their exercise of the freedom of speech," the Court said in that decision.
More:
https://reason.com/2019/09/10/lawsuit-argues-that-san-franciscos-anti-nra-resolution-violates-the-first-amendment/
