Government entities and actors are free to speak and do so forcefully on issues of public importance. However, government actors may not use their governmental powers via veiled threats of adverse governmental action to coerce private parties to suppress speech that the government actors view unfavorably. Here, the NRA alleged a viable claim for such coerced third party suppression of the NRA’s gun advocacy. Vullo, head of New York’s Dept. of Financial Services, regulated insurance companies. Vullo threatened to bring enforcement actions against insurers which had affinity insurance programs with the NRA unless the insurers cut their ties with the NRA. It is immaterial to the NRA’s First Amendment claim that the insurers had actually violated NY law in connection with those affinity insurance programs. Vullo was free to prosecute them for violating the law; she just couldn’t condition non-prosecution on the insurers’ cutting ties with the NRA due to the NRA’s gun advocacy.