New York’s financial regulator pressured banks and insurers to sever all ties with the NRA over its gun-rights advocacy. In 2024, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled this was unconstitutional government coercion violating the First Amendment. On remand, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit concluded that Ms. Vullo was entitled to qualified immunity because, at the time of her conduct, it was not clearly established that regulatory pressure on third-party non-expressive conduct would violate the First Amendment.

Among other things, GOA's brief warns that allowing officials to hide behind qualified immunity in these circumstances gives them a green light to pressure intermediaries to suppress disfavored speech, undermining the “marketplace of ideas” that the First Amendment protects.