Supreme Court rules for NRA in New York government coercion battle

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that the National Rifle Association can pursue a claim that a New York state official’s efforts to encourage companies to end ties with the gun rights group constituted unlawful coercion.The justices unanimously found that the NRA can move forward with arguments that its free speech rights under the Constitution’s First Amendment were violated by the actions of Maria Vullo, the then-superintendent of the New York state Department of Financial Services.The case was one of two before the justices concerning alleged government coercion…