5/30 – This week, the Supreme Court unanimously sided with the National Rifle Association in a free speech case. In an opinion written by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the court found that Maria Vullo, former New York Department of Financial Services superintendent, acted unconstitutionally when – in the wake of the tragic death of 17 high schoolers in Parkville, FL – she used her position to threaten regulatory action against insurance companies that underwrote the NRA’s “Carry Guard” insurance program, which offered insurance to gun owners charged with the wrongful use of firearms. Although the First Amendment protects government actors who try to persuade companies to take certain actions, it does not permit the government to coerce those companies, which is what the Court found Vullo did.