西弗吉尼亚州总检察长已向环保倡导组织发出调查传票——这些组织将其描述为对其第一修正案权利的报复性打击。
West Virginia’s attorney general has sent investigative subpoenas to environmental advocacy organizations – something the groups are describing as a retaliatory attack on their First Amendment rights.
西弗吉尼亚河流联盟和350.org本周提起诉讼称，他们和至少其他四个组织收到了西弗吉尼亚州总检察长JB·麦卡斯基办公室发出的传票。
West Virginia Rivers Coalition and 350.org filed a lawsuit this week saying that they and at least four other organizations received subpoenas from the office of West Virginia Attorney General JB McCuskey.
这些传票要求提供关于这些组织就气候变化和能源发表的公开声明、募捐请求、与可再生能源公司的联系等方面的信息。
The demands seek information about the organizations’ public statements about climate change and energy, requests for donations, ties to renewable energy companies and more.
他们请求西弗吉尼亚州联邦法院叫停传票的执行，称这侵犯了组织的言论自由权，并称这些传票“毫无根据且具有报复性”。与此同时，至少另一个组织——塞拉俱乐部——表示他们收到的一份传票后来被撤回——此前他们已告知总检察长办公室打算就此提起诉讼。
They asked a federal court in West Virginia to halt enforcement of the subpoenas, saying they violate the organizations’ rights to free speech and calling them “baseless and retaliatory.”Meanwhile, at least one other group, the Sierra Club, said they received a subpoena that was later withdrawn – after they informed the attorney general’s office of their intent to sue over it.
“塞拉俱乐部执行主任洛伦·布莱克福德说：“虽然我们很高兴看到西弗吉尼亚州总检察长在我们告知将提起联邦诉讼后撤回了其广泛的传票，但他威胁要让我们和其他团体噤声、恐吓我们的行为依然存在。”布莱克福德说，这次调查前所未有。“我们从未见过这样的事情，”她说。《国会山报》已联系麦卡斯基办公室置评。
“While we are glad to see the West Virginia attorney general withdraw his sweeping subpoena after we informed him of our plans to file a federal lawsuit, his threats to silence and intimidate us and other groups remain,” said Loren Blackford, executive director of the Sierra Club. Blackford said the probe was unprecedented. “We’ve seen nothing like this,” she said.
过去，国会共和党人曾向环保组织发出传票并以其他方式试图对其进行调查。今年早些时候，佛罗里达州总检察长也曾向环保法律相关组织发出传票。
The Hill has reached out to McCuskey’s office for comment. In the past, congressional Republicans have subpoenaed and otherwise sought to investigate environmental groups. Earlier this year, Florida’s attorney general also subpoenaed environmental law-related organizations.