MusingsinLawArtandLife Profile picture
Aug 4, 2018 16 tweets 11 min read Read on X
My #hottake on the NRA lawsuit: It’s Not What You Think
Despite breathless coverage from .@RollingStone, .@nypost and others, the NRA isn’t going bankrupt, although I’m sure it appreciates .@thegoodgodabove's and everyone’s #thoughtsandprayers.
Neither are #NRA's expressed economic concerns related to the recent criminal indictment of #MariaBukhina for illegal flows of #Russian money to the #GOP via the #NRA.
Instead #NRA alleges that #NYS governor and chief banking and insurance regulator are improperly pressuring #banks and #insurers not to do business with the #NRA, in order to carry out a political, anti-#gun rights agenda. But are they?
#NRA's lawsuit, pending since May, asks: is it proper for a #Governor to “direct” the Financial Services Superintendent to “urge” companies it regulates to “review” relationships with #NRA, and for Superintendent to comply, in pursuit of a political agenda?
Moreover, is the #NYS Department of Financial Services selectively prosecuting #NRA-affiliated insurers, while leaving similar conduct by others untouched? Doesn't this violate NRA's #constitutional rights (#freespeech, #dueprocess, #equalprotection)?
OTOH, months before the officials' statements, two insurers were already under investigation for violating #NYS law with their #NRA-affiliated insurance policies. These policies were lucrative for both the insurers and the NRA - millions of dollars of New Yorkers’ money 2000-18.
Ultimately both insurers signed consent decrees admitting wrongdoing and agreeing to pay millions in civil penalties. These were not mere technicalities but substantive violations...
...(1) New York law prohibits insurance coverage for defense costs arising out of a crime, such as #DWI or #rape; and (2) Paying royalties for based on a percentage of premiums collected to an entity that is not a licensed insurance broker, like #NRA, violates the law.
As part of the settlement, both insurers agreed not to underwrite any affinity-type insurance program with the #NRA in #NYS. But both can continue to write corporate insurance for the NRA itself.
This matters because the crux of NRA’s complaint is that they can’t buy insurance because they’ve been blackballed by #NYS, and that will preclude them from carrying out their expressive activities such as holding conventions and broadcasting NRA-TV.
In the end, the harm the NRA alleges seems speculative at best: NRA is having or may in the future have difficulty obtaining insurance and banking services in NY.
Even if #NRA ends up being right (or partially right) that that difficulty stems back to politically motivated DFS enforcement action, that allegation bumps up against extant NYS law and the insurers’ own admissions that they violated it.
Was the settlement coerced? Given the blue-chip counsel representing the insurers in the consent decree, it would be hard to argue these settlements were coerced. #NRA is the only one arguing coercion.
I don't foresee a judge granting an injunction for irreparable harm, let alone awarding damages, on the facts alleged. The Complaint is more the stuff of a press release, op-ed or talking points memo than a lawsuit.
Had they left it as a matter of public opinion, they could have better managed the timing vis-a-vis the #Bukhina #Russia #MoneyLaundering allegations. Now they're stuck with a briefing schedule in the middle of that mess. Discovery, too, if they defeat the motion to dismiss.
Parting thought: apart from #clickbait value (Mrs. Lincoln) I can’t fathom the poor reporting on this story that clearly didn’t even read the underlying court documents. Where are the qualified #legal #journalists?

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More from @Musingsinlaw

Aug 3, 2022
The #gaslighting of #girls:
1. Host a gender reveal party before she’s even born. You wouldn’t want the world to relate to her for even one instant of her life absent the lens of gender. 2. Stick a huge bow on her head the moment she’s born; she’s not cute enough without one. /1
3. Give her dolls to play with whose eyes and boobs are so huge, and whose waistline and feet are so tiny, she’d topple over if she were real. 4. Pump her food and drink full of hormones so she develops good and early. 2/
5. Dress her in clothes that will subject her to the male objectifying gaze and leave her feeling - and being - exposed. 6. Shame her for looking, dressing, or acting like a “slut.” Not even a common hairstyling technique is safe from that word. #slutshaming #slutstrands
Read 5 tweets
Oct 27, 2020
Dear friends, do not be aggrieved by the Senate vote for Barrett today. Instead, factor it in to your unwavering determination to vote. Let it sustain your willingness to endure long lines in adverse circumstances. Have it fuel you as you devote the time required to /1
master the details of voting in your state - signatures, secrecy envelopes, stamps, postmark dates, drop box or polling locations. If you choose to vote in person, rejoice in the masked, socially distanced throngs snaking around your polling site and around the block. /2
Our fury has already been “priced in” to the senators’ decision tonight. Let them live with the consequences of their deal with the devil. Make them pay with their senate majority. Follow the money trail all the way down the ballot and vote the hypocrites out. /3
Read 4 tweets
Aug 4, 2019
1/ If you have a Republican Senator, urge him/her to bring to the Senate floor #HR8 (expanding background checks to include firearm purchases at gun shows and over the internet) and #HR1112 (extending the number of days government authorities have to complete a background check)
2/ The current #backgroundcheck process allows a #gun purchase to proceed after 3 days, resulting in 4,800 gun sales in 2017 to individuals with #criminal records, a history of #mentalillness, and other disqualifying circumstances.
3/ #HR8 and #HR1112 passed in the House along largely party lines in February 2019. PS I'm aware that the .@NRA has shoveled heaps of cash, including #Russia-originated funds, into .@senatemajldr's campaign coffers, and that .@realDonaldTrump has threatened to veto both.
Read 4 tweets
Jul 27, 2019
No matter how they come out, the #impeachment hearings that now appear to be on their way will turn out to be a long overdue family conversation and massive online civics course where we, as Americans, get to grapple with some really important questions. Leave your examples below
Please make all examples based on facts that were preserved in the #MuellerReport. You may not like his looks or style, but the man knew how to preserve a record.
Ex. 1: If a foreign power offers you help in an election, do you accept the help or do you call the FBI?
Ex. 2: If you continue to pursue potential business deals involving said foreign power, or any other entity looking to do business with you, and refuse to divest or put everything in a blind trust (or even make routine disclosures), have you made yourself susceptible to bribery?
Read 9 tweets
Jul 23, 2019
1/ I note with deep sorrow the passing of .@MarkARKleiman, an early mentor and longtime friend of mine. Mark set the bar high for intellectual honesty and creative thinking about hard problems, especially in the #criminal #justice and #drug #policy areas...
@MarkARKleiman 2/ @.MarkARKleiman hired me for my first substantive job as his research assistant at .@Harvard's Kennedy School of #Government and as part of his then-nascent consulting firm, BOTEC Analysis, in 1984. He was unrelenting about putting data first...
@MarkARKleiman @Harvard 3/ ...fearlessly following facts wherever they may lead. He hosted a blog called The Reality-Based Community, samefacts.com, the tagline of which is "Everyone is entitled to his opinion, but not his own facts."
Read 10 tweets
Dec 9, 2018
Breakup songs for the .@SenateGOP trying to quit #Trump:
You know what you need to do, let us help you find the words. Breaking up is hard to do, as the old song goes. Here are some great #American #lyrics:
The party’s over / It's time to call it a day
Now you must wake up / All dreams must end
Take off your makeup, the party's over
It's all over, my friend
(Comden, Green, Styne)
I never like to admit that I was wrong
'Cause if you like the way you look that much
Oh baby you should go and love yourself
(#JustinBieber)
Read 7 tweets

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