Government Speech
The First Amendment in a Public Forum
The First Amendment of the United States Constitution provides that “Congress shall make nolaw … abridging the freedomofspeech. Whether agovernment agency has unconstitutionally excluded a private speaker from a government forum depends in part onthe natureof the forum. Limitations on speech in a traditional public forum must be narrowly tailored toaccomplish a compelling governmentalinterest. However, an agency may restrict access to anonpublic forum solong as the restrictions are reasonable and are not an effort to suppress expression merely becausepublic officials oppose thespeaker’sview. “Control over access to anonpublicforum can be based on subject matter and speaker identity so long…
