Association for the Preservation of Freedom of Choice, Inc. v. Shapiro

The Association for the Preservation of Freedom of Choice (the association) (plaintiff) filed an application for corporate status in New York state court. At that time, pursuant to a state statute, the state courts decided whether to grant an application for corporate status because only courts were deemed capable of determining whether a proposed corporation’s purpose was lawful. In addition, caselaw allowed judges to decline an application if a proposed corporation’s purpose violated public policy or was harmful to the community. The association’s stated purpose was, essentially, to advocate for the legal right to associate with only an individual’s desired racial or cultural group or groups—which included a legal right not to associate with undesired racial or cultural groups. Justice J. Irwin Shapiro (defendant) was the judge who received the association’s application. Shapiro noted that the individual members of the association could gather together and lawfully advocate to change the law to legalize discrimination. However, Shapiro ruled that having a corporate status was a privilege offered by the state, not an entitlement, and that it was not appropriate for the state to give the privilege to a group seeking this particular change in the law. Accordingly, Shapiro denied the application. The state’s appellate division affirmed the denial. The association appealed to New York’s highest court, the New York Court of Appeals.