Arkansas Educational Television Commission v. Ralph P. Forbes

Decided May 18, 1998. Anthony McLeod Kennedy delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 96-779 · 523 U.S. 666 (1998) · Cited 501 times

We don’t yet publish a summary of this opinion — read the official text below for the Court’s holding and reasoning.

How the Justices voted

Decided 6–3.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. Source: the Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.), Washington University.

Precedents cited

Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.

• Cornelius v. NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc. · 473 U.S. 788 (1985)
• Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc. v. Democratic National Committee · 412 U.S. 94 (1973)
• Federal Communications Commission v. League of Women Voters of California · 468 U.S. 364 (1984)
• Widmar v. Vincent · 454 U.S. 263 (1981)
• Shuttlesworth v. City of Birmingham · 394 U.S. 147 (1969)
• Perry Education Ass'n v. Perry Local Educators' Ass'n · 460 U.S. 37 (1983)
• Rosenberger v. Rector & Visitors of University of Virginia · 515 U.S. 819 (1995)
• International Society for Krishna Consciousness, Inc. v. Lee · 505 U.S. 672 (1992)
• Forsyth County v. Nationalist Movement · 505 U.S. 123 (1992)
• Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. v. Federal Communications Commission · 512 U.S. 622 (1994)
• Miami Herald Publishing Co. v. Tornillo · 418 U.S. 241 (1974)
• New York Times Co. v. Sullivan · 376 U.S. 254 (1964)
• Cantwell v. Connecticut · 310 U.S. 296 (1940)
• Garrison v. Louisiana · 379 U.S. 64 (1964)
• Anderson v. Celebrezze · 460 U.S. 780 (1983)
• Red Lion Broadcasting Co. v. Federal Communications Commission · 395 U.S. 367 (1969)
• Southeastern Promotions, Ltd. v. Conrad · 420 U.S. 546 (1975)
• Hurley v. Irish-American Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Group of Boston, Inc. · 515 U.S. 557 (1995)
• Illinois State Board of Elections v. Socialist Workers Party · 440 U.S. 173 (1979)
• United States v. Kokinda · 497 U.S. 720 (1990)
• Monitor Patriot Co. v. Roy · 401 U.S. 265 (1971)
• Denver Area Educational Telecommunications Consortium, Inc. v. Federal Communications Commission · 518 U.S. 727 (1996)
• City of Los Angeles v. Preferred Communications, Inc. · 476 U.S. 488 (1986)
• CBS, Inc. v. Federal Communications Commission · 453 U.S. 367 (1981)

Cited by

Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.

• Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission · 558 U.S. 310 (2010)
• United States v. American Library Assn., Inc. · 539 U.S. 194 (2003)
• Legal Services Corp. v. Velazquez · 531 U.S. 533 (2001)
• Walker v. Texas Div., Sons of Confederate Veterans, Inc. · 576 U.S. 200 (2015)
• National Endowment for the Arts v. Finley · 524 U.S. 569 (1998)
• Moody v. NetChoice, LLC · 603 U.S. 707 (2024)
• Pleasant Grove City v. Summum · 555 U.S. 460 (2009)
• Nixon v. Shrink Missouri Government PAC · 528 U.S. 377 (2000)
• TikTok Inc. v. Garland · 604 U.S. 56 (2025)

Official text

Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)

Explore from here

Anthony McLeod Kennedy’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: the U.S. Reports via govinfo.gov; authoring Justice and vote lineup from the Supreme Court Database (Washington University). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-07-03. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).