Arkansas Educational Television Commission v. Ralph P. Forbes (523 U.S. 666)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided May 18, 1998 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 523 U.S. 666 · 118 S. Ct. 1633
- Decided
- May 18, 1998
- Term
- October Term 1997
- Vote
- 6–3
- Majority author
- Justice Kennedy
- Issue area
- First Amendment
- Disposition
- Reversed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Justice Kennedy delivered the opinion of the Court. A state-owned public television broadcaster sponsored a candidate debate from which it excluded an independent candidate with little popular support. The issue before us is whether, by reason of its state ownership, the station had a constitutional obligation to allow every candidate access to the debate. "We conclude that, unlike most other public television programs, the candidate debate was subject to constitutional constraints applicable to nonpublic fora under our forum precedents. Even so, the broadcaster’s decision to exclude the candidate was a reasonable, viewpoint-neutral exercise of journalistic discretion. I Petitioner, the Arkansas Educational Television Commission (AETC), is an Arkansas state agency owning and operating a network of five noncommercial television stations (Arkansas Educational Television Network or AETN). The eight members of AETC are appointed by the Governor for 8-year terms and are removable only for good cause. Ark. Code Ann. §§ 6-3-102(a)(1), (b)(1) (Supp. 1997), § 25-16-804(b)(1) (1996). AETC members are barred from holding any other state or federal office, with the exception of teaeh-ing positions. Ark. Code Ann. § 6-3-102(a)(3) (Supp. 1997). To insulate its programming decisions from political pressure, AETC employs an executive director and professional staff who exercise broad…
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