BELLEVUE, WA – Attorneys representing the Second Amendment Foundation and Defense Distributed have filed an appellants’ brief in their long-running First Amendment challenge of the New Jersey statute which prohibits the publication of computer files containing digital firearms information.
The brief was filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. SAF and Defense Distributed, a Texas firm, are represented by attorneys Chad Flores and Josh Blackman, both in Houston, Texas and attorney Daniel L. Schmutter at Hartman & Winnicki in Ridgewood, N.J.
Since July 2018, the New Jersey Attorney General has acted under color of law to censor the publication of Defense Distributed’s Second Amendment speech. This has included a cease-and-desist letter to Defense Distributed, and threats to Defense Distributed’s third-party service providers. It amounted to a campaign of harassment and intimidation which led to the federal lawsuit filed by SAF and Defense Distributed.
“This case has been dragging on since 2018, and it is obvious the New Jersey Attorney General is engaging in legal gamesmanship,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “We won fairly in the Fifth Circuit in the battle over jurisdiction, but now the AG has gone back to a district court in the Garden State simply because he doesn’t like losing.
“This is a case about government censorship,” Gottlieb continued. “New Jersey is simply waging an ideological war against Defense Distributed for providing information online about firearms knowledge and possession.”
“In our continued pursuit of justice,” noted SAF Executive Director Adam Kraut, “we’ve had to literally chase the New Jersey Attorney General from one federal court circuit to another. New Jersey’s effort to stifle the First Amendment rights of Defense Distributed is reaching the realm of stubborn defiance. It constitutes a tortious interference with Defense Distributed’s business, in addition to violating their rights under the First and Second Amendments. The attorney general isn’t just trying to delay justice, he is trying to deny justice altogether.”
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