U.S. Supreme Court

Multistate coalition argues that states have the power to curb dangerous industry practices

OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta today joined a multistate coalition in a legal effort supporting states’ rights to enact commonsense laws to protect the public from gun violence. The coalition of 18 attorneys general today filed an amicus brief in support of New York’s defense against a legal challenge to its firearm-related public nuisance statute in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. The New York statute, similar to the law Attorney General Bonta championed in California — AB 1594 — restores the right of victims to hold the firearm industry responsible for its misconduct. In the amicus brief, the coalition argues that New York’s statute is in line with individual states’ longstanding authority to advance laws and policies that protect consumers from harms committed by manufacturers and sellers. In 2021, gun violence is believed to have killed nearly 49,000 people in the United States, more than in any other year on record.

“In California, we put people before profits — we won't tolerate it when companies' reckless and greedy practices endanger people’s lives,” said Attorney General Bonta. “Gun violence has left too many families broken, too many children traumatized, too many loved ones in pain — it’s time to stand up to the companies who peddle these deadly weapons. There is no reason that the gun industry should be the only industry exempt from responsibility for the harm that its products cause, especially when its products are responsible for the deaths of thousands of Americans each year. The California Department of Justice continues to stand with our partners across the nation in defending commonsense gun safety laws that protect communities and save lives.”

California’s AB 1594, which was sponsored by Attorney General Bonta and signed into law in July 2022, creates a pathway for Californians who have been harmed by gun violence to hold appropriate bad actors — including gun manufacturers and distributors — accountable. Under the law, if gun industry members fail to take proper precautions in their marketing and distribution to prevent their products from being used unlawfully, the Attorney General and individual Californians can file civil suits to recoup the damage from those failures. 

New York’s statute takes a similar approach to AB 1594, allowing its residents to take legal action against members of the firearm industry that violate state law. In National Shooting Sports Foundation v. James, a group of gun manufacturers and distributors filed a lawsuit seeking to block enforcement of the statute, but their motion for preliminary injunction was denied by the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York. The plaintiffs are now appealing the district court’s ruling in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. 

In their amicus brief supporting New York’s defense of the law in the appeals court, the attorneys general assert that state laws that provide a remedy for unlawful sale and marketing of firearms benefit the public by encouraging responsible business practices. Moreover, such statutes are a lawful exercise of state sovereign authority and are not preempted by the federal Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, which allows states to enact laws regulating firearms sales and marketing and also provide for civil lawsuits when gun manufacturers and sellers violate those laws. And finally, such laws are consistent with the U.S. Constitution’s dormant Commerce Clause, which permits states to create public-nuisance statutes to address gun violence occurring within their borders, consistent with the states’ well-established authority to regulate matters of legitimate local concern, even where interstate commerce may be affected.

In filing the amicus brief, Attorney General Bonta joins the attorneys general of Illinois, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin.

A copy of the brief can be found here.

Sale will allow over 150,000 residents living in predominantly rural communities to continue receiving emergency services in their area

OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta today conditionally approved the sale of financially distressed Madera Community Hospital to the Trinity Health Corporation. The 106-bed hospital located in the Central Valley offers vital services to more than 150,000 residents living in Madera and its surrounding communities. Many of those residents live in rural areas and rely on the hospital for critical care, as it is the only provider of emergency and lifesaving surgical services within a 30-minute drive. The conditions of Attorney General Bonta's approval will ensure the Madera community maintains access to critical emergency and surgical services in their area. Under California law, any transaction involving the sale or transfer of control of a healthcare facility owned by a nonprofit must secure the approval of the state Attorney General.

“When it comes to accessing emergency healthcare, every minute counts,” said Attorney General Bonta. “Having a hospital in the neighborhood can make the difference between life and death for a patient. Maintaining access to critical healthcare for our communities is always our top priority. Today's conditions seek to protect the welfare of Madera County residents, and ensure they can continue to access life-saving and hospital services when they need them most.”

The sale of Madera Community Hospital was found to be a benefit to the community, the majority of whose residents live in the predominantly rural Madera County area and are from lower-income Latinx communities. Many of them may lack transportation to the nearest alternative emergency or hospital services, which are approximately a 30-minute drive away in Fresno County.

Besides emergency care, Madera Community Hospital also provides other important services to the community, including preventative and primary care services, treatment of chronic conditions, and women’s and maternal health services.

Under the terms of the sale, Trinity has committed to the following:

1. Making financing available up to $45 million for installing and implementing a new medical records system and providing seismic upgrades to the hospital;
2. Spending $3 million per year on other necessary investments into the hospital, including equipment upgrades

Under the terms of the conditional approval, the Attorney General has required, among other things, that Trinity:

1. Use commercially reasonable best efforts in good faith to maintain services at the Madera Community Hospital for 5 years;
2. Accept price caps to ensure continued affordability for Madera residents;
3. Ensure continued certification of the hospital as a Medi-Cal and Medicare facility;
4. Provide charity care, financial assistance to patients, and community benefits;
5. Comply with nondiscrimination rules in the provision of healthcare services; and
6. Provide emergency reproductive healthcare services, notice and information to the public about nonemergency reproductive healthcare not provided, as well as information about alternative licensed providers and transport

These conditions will benefit the Madera community by: 

• Helping to ensure essential emergency care, acute hospital, and outpatient services continue for the Madera community and its rural populations, and for low-income and Medi-Cal recipients for at least five years;
• Advancing public health and welfare for the Madera community by allowing the hospital to raise rates and revenue to stabilize its financial status;
• Allowing improvements and upgrades for the hospital and its services along with recruitment of specialized medical professionals;
• Ensuring emergency reproductive healthcare continues;
• Saving lives by helping prevent the loss of the only GACH and emergency room in the county;
• Curbing excessive prices for Medi-Cal Managed Care and Medicare Advantage, in a highly concentrated rural-like market for at least five years; and
• Curbing excessive pricing for commercial out-of-network emergency services in a highly concentrated rural-like market with no alternatives for emergency care for at least five years

The California Department of Justice’s Healthcare Rights and Access Section (HRA) works proactively to increase and protect the affordability, accessibility, and quality of healthcare in California. HRA’s attorneys monitor and contribute to various areas of the Attorney General’s healthcare work, including nonprofit healthcare transactions; consumer rights; anticompetitive consolidation in the healthcare market; anticompetitive drug pricing; privacy issues; civil rights, such as reproductive rights and LGBTQ healthcare-related rights; and public health work on tobacco, e-cigarettes, and other products.

A copy of the conditional approval letter is available here.

LOS ANGELES- Attorney General Kamala D. Harris released the following statement on the Supreme Court's ruling in Fisher v. University of Texas, a high-profile affirmative action case regarding whether public universities can consider race in admissions decisions.

“Our nation's diversity is our strength, and our public colleges and university systems should strive to reflect that diversity. Evidence shows that fostering student bodies with wide arrays of backgrounds and experiences benefits all students and helps them prepare for a global workforce. There shouldn't be any doubt the Constitution permits public institutions of higher education to consider a range of factors, including race, when making admissions decisions and I'm glad the Supreme Court affirmed that right today." 

LOS ANGELES- Attorney General Kamala D. Harris released the following statement on the Supreme Court's 4-4 ruling in U.S. v. Texas, sending the case back to the lower court and maintaining the freeze on President Obama's deferred action programs that would have protected millions of immigrants from deportation.

"I am deeply disappointed in today’s Supreme Court ruling in United States v. Texas. As a nation, we must not accept a status quo in which families continue to be ripped apart.  We must not accept a status quo in which hard-working immigrants are demonized. And we must not accept a status quo in which millions of our friends and neighbors are living in the shadows. 

While today's ruling is a setback, it's not a defeat. Now, more than ever, Congress needs to put divisive political games aside to pass comprehensive immigration reform and finally allow relief and dignity for millions of American families."

SAN FRANCISCO - Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today issued the following statement in response to the ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in the case Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association.

"Today's ruling protects the right of public employees working in our schools, universities, hospitals, and police agencies in California and across the nation to negotiate fair wages and benefits, without restricting any individual employee's freedom of speech. While this decision is a victory, we must keep fighting to protect the ability of working families to make a living wage and pursue the American dream."

LOS ANGELES – Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today, along with Attorneys General from 19 states, and the District of Columbia, sent a letter to United States Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), urging the Senate to act promptly to consider a nominee to fill the United States Supreme Court vacancy created by Justice Antonin Scalia’s death.

“The President has a constitutional responsibility to nominate a qualified candidate to fill a Supreme Court vacancy, and the Senate has the responsibility to consider that nominee without undue delay,” stated Attorney General Harris.  “The failure to act due to political motivations would be a blatant disregard for one of the Senate’s most important Constitutional responsibilities.”

“The States [and territories] have a unique and pressing interest in a full and functioning Supreme Court,” states the letter.  “We rely on the Supreme Court to resolve questions of federal law, to resolve disputes between the States, to evaluate the constitutionality of State laws, and to ensure that federal and constitutional law are interpreted and applied uniformly across all States [and territories]. The Supreme Court not only resolves disputes that implicate States’ vital interests, it often does so in closely divided cases.”

“We urge the Senate to carry out its responsibilities by allowing for full consideration of a qualified nominee to the Supreme Court and confirming such a nominee without unnecessary delay.”

A copy of the letter is attached to the electronic version of this release at oag.ca.gov/news.

LOS ANGELES – Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today announced that California has joined 15 other states and the District of Columbia in a friend-of-the-court brief in the case of United States v. Texas, urging the Supreme Court to reverse an injunction upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. The injunction prohibited the federal government from putting into effect President Barack Obama’s immigration directives that were announced in November 2014.

“President Obama has proposed common sense actions on immigration, which will allow millions of hard-working immigrants to come out of the shadows, contribute to the prosperity of this nation and build their American Dream,” said Attorney General Harris. “I urge the Supreme Court to reverse the lower court’s decision, and allow these important immigration actions to move forward.”

This is the fifth multi-state amicus brief that Attorney General Harris has joined in this case, including the friend-of-the-court brief filed in December 2015 supporting the U.S. Department of Justice’s request for the U.S. Supreme Court to review this case. Now that the Court has agreed to hear the case, in this brief the signatories urge the Court to reverse the lower court’s decision. The brief, signed by California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai’i, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and the District of Columbia, and authored by Washington State, asks the Supreme Court to lift the injunction and allow the programs to move forward.

The multi-state brief argues that the President’s immigration directives will benefit the States and further the public interest by allowing qualified undocumented immigrants to work legally and better support their families. This will increase State tax revenue, enhance public safety, and help avoid tragic situations in which parents are deported away from their U.S. citizen children, who are left to rely on State services or extended family. These considerations demonstrate that there is no irreparable injury to the plaintiff States, and that the balance of hardships and public interest strongly favor allowing the directives to proceed without a preliminary injunction.

The brief stresses the overwhelming merits of President Obama’s immigration actions. Reversing the lower court’s decision will allow approximately 5 million people, including 1.2 million Californians, to apply for protection from deportation and work authorization. If enacted, policies designed to strengthen the security of California and the nation will enter into effect, such as requiring eligible individuals to submit biometric data, pass criminal and national security background checks, pay taxes, and meet the specific requirements for the deferred action program, including having resided in the U.S. for at least five years. The federal policies would also expand a preexisting program for certain immigrants who came to the United States as children.

A copy of the brief is attached to the electronic version of this release at oag.ca.gov/news.

SAN FRANCISCO - Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today announced that California, leading a coalition of 16 states and the District of Columbia, has submitted a friend-of-the-court brief in the U.S. Supreme Court case of Zubik, et al. v. Burwell et al., urging the Court to protect women’s access to contraceptive coverage under the federal government’s Affordable Care Act (ACA).  The brief, written by California, was joined by Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and the District of Columbia.

“A woman’s right to access contraception should not hinge on the religious beliefs of her employer,” said Attorney General Harris.  “The right to healthcare services is justly protected under federal law, and  the Supreme Court should uphold the ACA’s common-sense accommodation for religious organizations and protect women’s access to essential healthcare.”

The ACA provides an accommodation for religious nonprofit organizations that object to its requirement that employer-provided health insurance plans contain coverage for preventative healthcare, including contraception.  Through this accommodation, these organizations can simply opt out of providing contraceptive coverage to their employees by informing their insurance company or the federal government of their objection to this coverage.  If an organization does opt out, the insurer will then provide contraceptive coverage directly to employees at the insurance companies own expense.  In the Zubik case, several nonprofit religious organizations filed suit against Sylvia Burwell, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, arguing that this opt-out accommodation violates their religious beliefs.

Attorney General Harris and the 17 other attorneys general argue in the brief that the Court should not interpret the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) in a way that defeats and interferes with the essential and compelling purposes of the ACA and its preventative contraceptive healthcare coverage requirements.  As the brief notes, access to contraceptives is not only essential for public health, but is consistent with the intent of Congress in passing the ACA to ensure that all covered employees have access to no-cost preventive care, free of logistical and administrative barriers. 

The brief argues that the ACA’s opt-out accommodation does not create a substantial burden and therefore does not interfere with or violate the rights of these organizations under RFRA.  The brief also argues that the alternatives to this common-sense accommodation proposed by the religious employers would impose significant financial, logistical, informational, and administrative burdens on women seeking access to contraception.  These burdens would fall hardest on women with the fewest informational and financial resources to overcome them.

The brief urges the Court to interpret RFRA in a manner that would not interfere with States’ goals and prerogatives to protect public health and promote gender equity.

In January 2014, Attorney General Harris authored a multi-state friend-of-the-court brief in Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., urging the Supreme Court to overturn a lower court’s ruling allowing for-profit companies to deny essential healthcare to female employees based on the religious beliefs of the company’s owners.

In 2015, Attorney General Harris co-sponsored AB 775, the Reproductive FACT Act, to ensure women have equal access to comprehensive reproductive health care and are able to make informed choices about their health.  The bill was signed into law by Governor Brown and went into effect on January 1, 2016.  The Attorney General’s office is vigorously defending the law in federal and state court. 

In January 2106, Attorney General Harris joined 13 other states and the District of Columbia in signing a friend-of-the-court brief in the case of Whole Woman’s Health v. Cole, urging the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a lower court decision substantially restricting access to abortion services in Texas. 

A copy of the brief is attached to the electronic version of this release at oag.ca.gov/news.

LOS ANGELES – Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today issued the following statement on the passing of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia:

"My condolences go out to Justice Scalia's family and his colleagues on the Court who mourn his loss. In his three decades on the Supreme Court, Justice Scalia left a lasting impression on American jurisprudence. Even those of us who vigorously disagreed with his views recognized the power of his intellect."

SACRAMENTO – Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today released a statement following the U.S. Supreme Court’s order granting a stay of President Obama’s America’s Clean Power Plan, which would limit the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by fossil fuel-fired power plants. 

“I am extremely disappointed by the Supreme Court’s decision today to block President Obama’s Clean Power Plan,” said Attorney General Harris. “The Court’s decision, and the special interests working to undermine this plan, threatens our environment, public health and economy.”

In November 2015, Attorney General Harris joined 17 states, the District of Columbia, and several major cities to intervene in lawsuits filed in opposition to President Obama’s Clean Power Plan and New Source Standards. 

Attorney General Harris has aggressively fought to protect AB 32, California’s Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, which has served as a global model for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. The Attorney General’s office has also defended challenges to California’s Cap-and-Trade auctions and its precedent-setting Low Carbon Fuels Standard.