1/5
Chief Justice John Roberts said yay to prostitution and sex trafficking and nay to "First Amendment Rights violation" under the shadow of Open Society's HIV/AIDS argument in 2013
Credit to X22's twatter post for attention to today's Supreme Court conclusion. twitter.com/X22Report/status/1277715467411566593
2013 PDF: supremecourt.gov/opinions/12pdf/12-10_21p3.pdf
2020 PDF: supremecourt.gov/opinions/19pdf/19-177_b97c.pdf
–
2013 PDF: Roberts opinion is on pages 1 (4 on PDF) to 15 (18 on PDF)
Via page 1 (or 4 on PDF)
[June 20, 2013]
CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS delivered the opinion of the
Court.
The United States Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act of 2003 (Leadership Act), 117
Stat. 711, as amended, 22 U. S. C. §7601 et seq., outlined a
comprehensive strategy to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS
around the world. As part of that strategy, Congress
authorized the appropriation of billions of dollars to fund
efforts by nongovernmental organizations to assist in the
fight. The Act imposes two related conditions on that
funding: First, no funds made available by the Act “may be
used to promote or advocate the legalization or practice of
prostitution or sex trafficking.” §7631(e). And second, no
funds may be used by an organization “that does not have
a policy explicitly opposing prostitution and sex trafficking.”
Via page 13-14 (or 16-17 on PDF)
The Government suggests that the Policy Requirement
is necessary because, without it, the grant of federal funds
could free a recipient’s private funds “to be used to promote prostitution or sex trafficking.” Brief for Petitioners
27 (citing Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project, 561 U. S.
1, – (2010) (slip op., at 25–26)). That argument
assumes that federal funding will simply supplant private
funding, rather than pay for new programs or expand
existing ones. The Government offers no support for that
assumption as a general matter, or any reason to believe it
is true here. And if the Government’s argument were
correct, League of Women Voters would have come out
differently, and much of the reasoning of Regan and Rust
would have been beside the point.
–
2020 PDF: Kavanaugh's opinion is on pages 1 (3 on PDF) to 9 (11 on PDF)
After enactment of the Leadership Act, plaintiffs challenged the Policy Requirement, alleging that it violated the
First Amendment. In 2013, this Court agreed, concluding
that the Policy Requirement ran afoul of the free speech
principle that the Government “may not deny a benefit to a
person on a basis that infringes his constitutionally protected . . . freedom of speech.” Agency for Int’l Development
v. Alliance for Open Society Int’l, Inc., 570 U. S. 205, 214
(2013) (internal quotation marks omitted). Therefore, the
Policy Requirement no longer applies to American organizations that receive Leadership Act funds, meaning that
American organizations can obtain Leadership Act funds
even if they do not have a policy explicitly opposing prostitution and sex trafficking.