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Arkansas Educational Television Commission v. Forbes

Supreme Court of the United States · 1998 · Constitutional Law

Constitutional LawFirst AmendmentPublic forum doctrinePublic broadcastingCandidate debatesFirst Amendmentnonpublic forumdesignated public forum

Facts

AETC, a state-owned public television network, planned a series of 1992 election debates and decided to limit participation to major-party candidates or other candidates with strong popular support because of time constraints. Forbes, an independent candidate who qualified for the ballot in Arkansas' Third Congressional District race, requested inclusion but was denied after AETC concluded its viewers would be best served by limiting the debate to the already invited candidates. At trial, AETC staff testified Forbes lacked campaign organization, appreciable voter support, and recognition as a serious candidate by the press. The jury expressly found that AETC did not exclude Forbes because of political pressure or disagreement with his views.

Issue

Whether the First Amendment required a state-owned public television broadcaster to include a ballot-qualified independent candidate in a televised candidate debate it sponsored. More specifically, whether the debate was a public forum requiring equal access or a nonpublic forum permitting reasonable, viewpoint-neutral exclusion.

Rule

Public forum doctrine should not be mechanically extended to public television broadcasting. Although candidate debates sponsored by a public broadcaster are a narrow exception and constitute a forum of some type, such debates are nonpublic forums unless the government has intentionally made them generally available to a class of speakers; selective, candidate-by-candidate access does not create a designated public forum. In a nonpublic forum, the government may exclude a speaker if the exclusion is reasonable in light of the forum's purpose and not based on the speaker's viewpoint.

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One of 10 multiple-choice questions for this case. Pick an answer to see why.

Prairie State Public Media, a television network owned by Illinois, sponsors a live debate for candidates seeking an open U.S. House seat in Chicago. The network invites the Democratic and Republican nominees and declines to include a certified independent candidate after producers conclude he has attracted almost no voter attention and lacks a functioning campaign.

If the excluded candidate sues under the First Amendment, which is the strongest argument for the network?

Explanation. A state-owned broadcaster's candidate debate is a narrow exception in which forum analysis applies, but the debate is generally a nonpublic forum unless the government intentionally makes it generally available to a class of speakers. Candidate-by-candidate selection is selective access, not general access. In a nonpublic forum, exclusion is valid if reasonable in light of the forum's purpose and viewpoint neutral.