Federal Judge Blocks West Virginia Attorney General's Subpoenas to Environmental Nonprofits With a 14-Day Restraining Order
In Charleston, Kanawha County, West Virginia, U.S. District Judge Joseph Goodwin of the Southern District of West Virginia ruled on October 29 to issue a temporary restraining order against West Virginia Attorney General J.B. McCuskey, blocking enforcement of his subpoenas to the West Virginia Rivers Coalition and the national climate organization 350.org for 14 days, unless the court extends it.
The attorney general issued the subpoenas under the West Virginia Consumer Credit and Protection Act, demanding 16 categories of documents covering nearly ten years of the organizations' internal communications, drafts, fundraising records and supporter information. In his memorandum opinion, Judge Goodwin wrote that the attorney general identified no consumer who was cheated, no sale, and no purchase made in reliance on anything either group said; the organizations engage in protected advocacy speech, not commercial speech, and the subpoenas trespass on their freedom of association and chill the exercise of First Amendment rights.
The ruling stressed that this is temporary relief, not a final judgment, and the court will schedule a hearing on a longer preliminary injunction. The two organizations had sued, alleging the subpoenas violate the First Amendment.
Source: GSM America
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：西弗吉尼亚州议会大厦（Charleston）。Quintin Soloviev摄，CC BY 4.0，经Wikimedia Commons。 / West Virginia State Capitol in Charleston. Photo by Quintin Soloviev, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
