A New York Supreme Court judge rejected state Attorney General Letitia James’s politically motivated attempt to shut down the National Rifle Association in a ruling issued Wednesday, according to the Daily Caller.
BREAKING: NRA cannot be dissolved by New York attorney general, judge rules –Reuters
— NRA (@NRA) March 2, 2022
Judge Joel Cohen ruled that the financial misconduct alleged to have taken place did not warrant “the corporate death penalty,” but should rather be pursued against those executives responsible.
“The complaint does not allege that any financial misconduct benefited the NRA, or that the NRA exists primarily to carry out such activity, or that the NRA is incapable of continuing its legitimate activities on behalf of its millions of members,” the judge wrote, according to Newsweek.
“We applaud the court’s recognition that dissolution is neither appropriate nor justified,” NRA legal counsel William A. Brewer III said in a statement after the ruling. “We look forward to continuing the defense of the NRA—and proving that it acts in the best interests of its members and the Second Amendment freedoms in which they believe.”
NRA President Charles Cotton called it “a resounding win for the NRA, its 5 million members, and all who believe in this organization.”
James, who had promised during her 2018 campaign to “target the NRA,” sued the Second Amendment advocacy organization in August 2020, seeking “to dissolve the organization in its entirety for years of self-dealing and illegal conduct that violate New York’s charities law.”
The NRA counter-sued and alleged that James’s suit was political vendetta motivated by her support for gun control legislation.
“We are disappointed that the judge ruled against the dissolution portion of the case,” James said in a press release issued in response to Judge Cohen’s ruling. “We are considering our legal options with respect to this ruling.”
