The Supreme Court is seen Wednesday, June 29, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
"Six decades ago, this Court held that a government entity’s ‘threat of invoking legal sanctions and other means of coercion’ against a third party ‘to achieve the suppression' of disfavored speech violates the First Amendment," the opinion states.
"Today, the Court reaffirms what it said then: Government officials cannot attempt to coerce private parties in order to punish or suppress views that the government disfavors," it said. "Petitioner National Rifle Association (NRA) plausibly alleges that respondent Maria Vullo did just that."
The NRA sued then-New York State Department of Financial Services Superintendent Maria T. Vullo, who – at the order of former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo – allegedly blacklisted the NRA – effectively forcing banks and insurers to cut ties with the group.
NRA PRAISES COURT ORDER STRIKING DOWN ‘DRACONIAN’ BLUE STATE'S HANDGUN LAW
Signage outside the National Rifle Association (NRA) annual convention in Houston, Texas, US, on Friday, May 27, 2022. (Mark Felix/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
"Those allegations, if true, state a First Amendment claim."
The Supreme Court in November agreed to hear National Rifle Association of America v. Vullo, after a federal appeals court in 2022 dismissed the group's lawsuit, arguing Vullo’s actions were reasonable.
On Thursday, the high court said the Second Circuit is vacated, and the case remanded for further proceedings consistent with its opinion – meaning the gun rights group can continue to argue its case in lower courts.
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The NRA garnered support from unlikely allies in the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) - a group that ideologically opposes the NRA but said it is "proud" to defend the gun group’s "right to speak."
"While the ACLU disagrees with the NRA’s advocacy, we are proud to defend its right to speak," ACLU Legal Director David Cole, who argued the case for the NRA, said in a statement.
"Public officials cannot be allowed to abuse their regulatory powers to blacklist an organization just because they oppose its political views. If New York is allowed to do this to the NRA, it will provide a playbook for other state officials to abuse their authority to target groups they don’t like," he said.
Fox News' Shannon Bream and Bill Mears and Fox News Digital's Emma Colton contributed to this report.
Brianna Herlihy is a politics writer for Fox News Digital.
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