An ethics complaint has been filed against New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin and Chief Counsel Sundeep Iyer over his office’s investigation of pro-life pregnancy care centers.
The Center to Advance Security in America, a Washington, D.C.-based non-governmental organization, filed three complaints on Tuesday with the Office of Attorney Ethics of Trenton, New Jersey, and the Attorney Grievance Committee Supreme Court, Appellate Division First Judicial Department of New York.
CASA provided The Christian Post with a first look at copies of the complaints in advance of their submission.
At issue in all three complaints were the oral arguments made by New Jersey before the U.S. Supreme Court last December in the case of First Choice Women’s Resource Centers, Inc. v. Matthew J. Platkin, Attorney General of New Jersey.
The case centered on whether New Jersey could force First Choice, which operates a network of pro-life pregnancy centers in the state, to disclose its donor lists and other information about supporters under threat of legal penalties.
During oral arguments, Justice Clarence Thomas had asked Iyer if the state attorney general’s office had “complaints that formed the basis of your concern about the fundraising activities” of First Choice.
Iyer admitted that “we haven’t had complaints about this specific crisis pregnancy center” but added that state and federal governments “initiate investigations all the time in the absence of complaints where they have a reason to suspect that there could be potential issues of legal compliance.”
CASA accuses Iyer of possibly violating the Rules of Professional Conduct for New Jersey and New York, while Platkin was accused of possibly violating the New Jersey Rules of Professional Conduct.
According to the complaints, Platkin and Iyer violated the First Amendment rights of First Choice when they opted to investigate the pro-life organization “for no apparent reason.”
“Platkin and Iyer decided to investigate a pregnancy care center for no apparent reason other than a general suspicion that pregnancy care centers operate incorrectly. No complaints led to the investigation, yet they chose to probe into the organization and its donors,” read one of the complaints sent to OAE of New Jersey.
“Because knowingly depriving someone of their constitutional rights is a federal crime, the New Jersey Office of Attorney Ethics should investigate Platkin and impose discipline accordingly.”
Curtis Schube, director of Research and Policy at CASA, told CP in an interview last week that his organization submitted the complaints as “part of our mission,” which “is to try to keep different various professionals, including attorneys, especially when they are involved in government, accountable.”
Schube feels it is important for there to be “some level of accountability for misbehaving attorneys” who are “using the power of government” in order “to target pregnancy care centers, faith-based nonprofits, especially their donors.”
“That’s been declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court,” Schube told CP, alluding to the 2021 decision in Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Bonta, Attorney General of California.
“It’s our First Amendment right to be able to donate to places like this and the state has no right to dig into those finances unless there is some very specific investigation, sorry, reason to investigate them.”
CP reached out to the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General last week for a response to the complaints. A representative said the office declined to comment.
The Supreme Court has not yet issued a decision in First Choice v. Platkin, though it is expected to do so by the end of June.
