NEW YORK — A lawsuit by the National Rifle Association challenging the constitutionality of New York’s probe into its financial practices was thrown out, vindicating a politically charged investigation that had briefly threatened the future of the gun-rights group.
The lawsuit accusing New York Attorney General Letitia James of investigating the NRA for political purposes rather than legal ones was dismissed Friday by state court justice Joel M. Cohen in Manhattan. James’ probe and subsequent claims against the NRA were not “pretext” and were justified by “detailed allegations of wrongdoing at the highest levels of a not-for-profit organization,” the judge said.
“The narrative that the Attorney General’s investigation into these undeniably serious matters was nothing more than a politically motivated — and unconstitutional — witch hunt is simply not supported by the record,” the judge wrote.
