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A national worker-rights group plans to go to federal court Monday to block a New York law it says was written to silence outreach to public employees about their right to leave their unions. The group argues the new law is an unconstitutional violation of free speech because it allows state government officials to shut down speech before a single word is conveyed.

The Freedom Foundation is set to file its motion in U.S. District Court in the Northern District of New York asking for a preliminary injunction against the “Section 216” civil service law. Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the measure on Sept. 9. It took effect immediately.

The case sets up a high-stakes test of how far a state can go in policing speech aimed at its own workers. New York contends that the law simply targets fraud. The Freedom Foundation counters that it’s a union-backed weapon targeting its highly successful education campaigns to show public sector workers how to cancel their union memberships.

Freedom Foundation CEO Aaron Withe has called the law a “hit job” aimed at ending the free-speech rights of his group. He said it “isn’t about protecting anyone” except the unions.

Withe asserts that the law aims to stop the Freedom Foundation’s education campaigns after the group’s outreach has led to the largest decline in union membership in U.S. history. Some 300,000 people in the last six years have canceled their union membership, he said, and the anti-union messages are continuing to gain traction. If the cancellation trend continues, the Freedom Foundation expects 70,000 people to cancel their union membership this year alone.

“They’re paying [an average of] $1,100 a year each, so you’re talking about in one year $70 million being taken away from their annual revenues,” he told RealClearPolitics. “And of course, most of that is happening in blue states because that’s where the public employees are.”

On the surface, the New York law purports to bar people and organizations from sending communications that falsely appear to be authorized by a union or union representative. It also gives Democratic Attorney General Letitia James the power to investigate, issue subpoenas, and ask a court to block communications deemed deceptive.

Courts can impose fines of up to $1,000 per violation, including against organizations based outside of New York. The Freedom Foundation says New York’s version goes further than a similar Oregon law by giving unions a “private right of action” to sue out-of-state parties.

The Freedom Foundation’s request for a preliminary injunction argues that the law gives state attorneys broad powers to investigate, intimidate and stifle speech before it occurs. The group has already halted its New York outreach while the........

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