Public TV Stations Can Exclude Minor Candidates
Supreme Court rules in Arkansas debate case
WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, May 18) -- On a 6-3 vote, the Supreme Court ruled Monday public TV and radio stations may exclude minor political candidates from debates the stations sponsor.
In an Arkansas case, the court said state-owned broadcast outlets do not have to include minor candidates or candidates they consider not "newsworthy," and can exclude them without violating their free-speech rights.
The decision affects only government-owned stations, not privately owned ones. The high court ruling reversed a federal appeals court ruling that declared that the Arkansas Educational Television Network violated candidate Ralph Forbes' free-speech rights by not including him in a 1992 forum for congressional candidates.
Forbes, a former American Nazi party member who labels himself a
Christian supremacist, called the decision "very Orwellian" and "chilling."
Said Forbes, "It ought to scare the hell out of anybody with any brains."
Susan Howarth, executive director of the Arkansas Educational
Television Network, praised the court's ruling, though.
"The court has affirmed that we as government-licensed
broadcasters have those same rights and freedoms (as private
broadcasters) to be able to serve our viewers," she told The Associated Press.
Forbes ran as an independent, but the network invited only Republicans and Democrats to its debate. He got 2.5 percent of the votes cast.
Writing for the majority, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy said the network was entitled to use its journalistic discretion. The network "excluded Forbes because the voters lacked interest in his candidacy," not because the network itself did, Kennedy said.
Kennedy was joined by Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist and
Justices Sandra Day O'Connor, Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and
Stephen G. Breyer.
Justices John Paul Stevens, David H. Souter and Ruth Bader
Ginsburg disagreed with the ruling.
Writing for the three, Stevens said the court "understates the
constitutional importance of the distinction between state
ownership and private ownership of broadcast facilities."
In another case, the court let stand an order requiring the New Orleans District Attorney's office to turn over records on its
prosecution of businessman Clay Shaw in connection with President John F. Kennedy's assassination in 1963.
The high court let stand a lower court ruling ordering District Attorney Harry Connick to provide documents and audio tapes to the federal Assassination Records Review Board. Shaw was acquitted of conspiracy in 1969 in a case brought by former District Attorney Jim Garrison.
Justice Department lawyers are concerned that Connick's office may not
be properly caring for the material. One file drawer of materials seen in 1978 may be missing, and the audio tapes have not been stored property to avoid deterioration, the government says.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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