(FreedomBeacon.com)- Letitia James, the attorney general of the state of New York, is allowed to proceed with her lawsuit against the National Rifle Association.
A judge in Manhattan rejected the NRA’s efforts to dismiss this lawsuit. In doing so, the judge roasted the gun rights group for continuing to bring motions before him that he continues to reject.
In making his ruling, Justice Joel Cohen of the Manhattan Supreme Court said:
“The rule that you get one crack at it is an important one.”
In addition, Cohen said that James could seek to obtain a compliance monitor so that she could oversee the NRA, if she’s able to show proof of the gun group’s “pervasive financial malfeasance” during trial.
As the justice explained:
“It’s a very muscular kind of remedy. I get it.”
Oral arguments for the motion lasted about two hours, at which point Cohen said it was too “premature” to remove that remedy from the table.
James has been aggressively attacking the NRA for a while now. Earlier in 2022, Cohen brought her back down to reality a bit when he forced her to limit the scope of the original version of her lawsuit.
The attorney general was seeking to completely shut down the NRA, which has been operating for more than 150 years. In March, though, the justice said it was unwarranted to use the “corporate death penalty” over James’ claims that the NRA had violated charity laws in New York.
That being said, he allowed the rest of the lawsuit to move forward, saying it’s “a grim story of greed, self-dealing and lax financial oversight at the highest levels of the National Rifle Association.”
James’ lawsuit that she’s moving forward with is seeking strong relief not just against the gun rights group as a whole, but also specifically Wayne LaPierre, the group’s CEO and executive vice president.
The lawsuit seeks for the judge to officially remove LaPierre from his perch atop the National Rifle Association, as well as barring him and many other executives at the NRA permanent from “serving as officers, directors or trustees of any not-for-profit or charitable organization incorporated or authorized to conduct business or solicit charitable donations in the State of New York.”
LaPierre, naturally, has scoffed at that ambition. Philip Correll, who is serving as his lawyer, commented recently:
“Lifetime ban on non-profit service for my client: Holy cow! Really?”
During the recent oral arguments, the lawyers for both LaPierre and the NRA argued James’ amended lawsuit was seeking relief that the Manhattan Supreme Court didn’t has any power to ultimately grant.
Correll argued:
“To look at it another way, the attorney general can’t rewrite a statute — nor can this court.”
During his own series of questions, Cohen also said it would be “premature” for the lawyers to try to litigate what relief would be within the judge’s discretion before any evidence even came out at a potential trial. He said:
“At a very early stage of the case, before any facts have been proven, you’re saying that I have to limit the scope of remedies.”
