NJ Attorney General Faces Impeachment Charges for Targeting Pro-Life Pregnancy Centers
New Jersey Republican lawmakers are moving to impeach the state’s attorney general, accusing him of unlawfully investigating several faith-based, pro-life pregnancy resource centers.
Attorney General Matthew Platkin is facing impeachment after GOP legislators filed a five-page resolution Thursday claiming Platkin targeted “certain organizations based upon the political beliefs of the organization, specifically pro-life pregnancy centers,” along with waging “lawfare” against state troopers and mishandling legal responses to the pandemic.
The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a non-profit legal group, represents First Choice Women’s Resource Centers, which has five locations in the state, in a court case against Platkin.
The impeachment resolution also names First Choice Women’s Resource Centers as the pregnancy resource group Platkin allegedly investigated.
According to ADF, Platkin demanded that First Choice identify—by name—the donors behind nearly 5,000 donations and produce up to 10 years of its internal, confidential documents.
ADF attorney Gabriella McIntyre told the Daily Signal that Platkin brought the investigation under multiple statutes, but most notably under the Consumer Fraud Act.
“(The Consumer Fraud Act) basically gives the attorney general expansive authority under mere speculation that if a person or an organization is misleading consumers or somehow violating the act, he can then subpoena information,” she explained.
Court documents outline that the attorney general was concerned that a donor may have given to First Choice under the belief that they were an abortion provider.
However, the legal firm notes that the First Amendment protects donor identities from unjustified disclosure and prohibits a state official from retaliating against speech with which he disagrees.
“New Jersey’s attorney general is targeting First Choice Women’s Resource Centers—a ministry that provides free ultrasounds, baby clothes, and more to its community—simply because of its pro-life views,” said ADF Senior Counsel Erin Hawley, vice president of the ADF Center for Life and Regulatory Practice. “The U.S. Constitution protects First Choice and its donors from unjustified demands for their identities and First Choice is entitled to vindicate those rights in federal court.”
ADF filed a federal lawsuit against Platkin challenging the investigation, but Platkin responded by filing his own lawsuit in state court.
That move led the federal court to say that First Choice must pursue its federal claims in state court first. The legal battle has dragged on for more than a year.
Now the ADF is asking the Supreme Court to hear their case and allow them to pursue the case in federal court, the legal firm reports.
In their petitionthe group says that without the high court’s intervention individuals targeted by state officials will not be able to raise their claims in federal court. It classifies Platkin’s actions as “hostile to pro-life groups” and points out his cooperation with Planned Parenthood.
“New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin has made no secret of his hostility towards pregnancy centers,” First Choice’s petition to the U.S. Supreme Court says. “He issued a consumer alert—drafted with the help of Planned Parenthood—complaining that such centers do not provide or refer for abortion. He also signed an open letter pledging to take legal action against pregnancy centers.”
Meanwhile, New Jersey Republicans are calling for his removal from office.
“As a result of his own political ambition, Matthew Platkin has used the Office of the Attorney General to target individuals he disagrees with politically, which has done professional and financial damage to these individuals and their families and has caused further damage to the reputation of the office,” the GOP resolution reads.
The attorney general reacted to the impeachment charges in an emailed statement saying he refused to respond.
“I am not going to respond to partisan political attacks. I am focused on the same priorities I have had since day one: driving gun violence down to historically low levels, holding social media corporations accountable for the harms they’re inflicting on our children, and protecting our residents — including by standing up to threats from Washington and fighting corruption, no matter who it offends,” he wrote.
A majority of the New Jersey Assembly members must vote to impeach Platkin. After that point, the state Senate will hold a trial. Platkin would only be removed from his position if two-thirds of senators voted to convict him.
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