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New York Supreme Court Justice Joel Cohen ruled Wednesday that New York Attorney General Letitia James had failed to make her case, which called for the dissolution of the National Rifle Association.

The NRA has been spared.

Justice Cohen castigated the politically minded AG. In his decision, Cohen said that dissolving NRA would infringe upon the First Amendment rights of its members.

“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. In short, the Complaint does not allege the type of public harm that is the legal linchpin for imposing the ‘corporate death penalty.’ Moreover, dissolving the NRA could impinge, at least indirectly, on the free speech and assembly rights of its millions of members,” Cohen wrote.

The NRA was jubilant.

“The message is loud and clear:  the NRA is strong and secure in its mission to protect constitutional freedom,” NRA President Charles Cotton said in a written statement.

James was “disappointed.”

“Today, the court affirmed my office’s right to pursue its long-standing claims that fraud, abuse, and greed permeate through the NRA and its senior leadership. While we’re heartened that the judge rejected the NRA’s attempts to thwart most of the claims in our case against the NRA, we are disappointed that the judge ruled against the dissolution portion of the case. We are considering our legal options with respect to this ruling. We remain committed to enforcing New York law regardless of how powerful any individual or organization may be,” she said in a press release.

Justice Cohen’s decision allows James to continue her lawsuit but removes the “corporate death penalty” of dissolution from the list of possible outcomes.

James has alleged that Wayne LaPierre and three other former NRA executives violated New York state law concerning not-for-profit corporations.

 

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