Pacific Bell Telephone Company, Dba At&t California et al. v. Linkline Communications, Inc., et al.

Decided February 25, 2009. John Glover Roberts Jr. delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 07-512 · 555 U.S. 438 (2009) · Cited 340 times

Holding

The placement of a permanent monument in a public park is a form of government speech and is therefore not subject to scrutiny under the Free Speech Clause.

The Court’s statement of the holding, from the opinion’s syllabus. The syllabus is prepared by the Reporter of Decisions and is not part of the opinion of the Court — read the official opinion for authority.

How the Justices voted

Decided 9–0.

“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.

• Brooke Group Ltd. v. Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. · 509 U.S. 209 (1993)
• Verizon Communications Inc. v. Law Offices of Curtis v. Trinko, LLP · 540 U.S. 398 (2004)
• United States v. Grinnell Corp. · 384 U.S. 563 (1966)
• Aspen Skiing Co. v. Aspen Highlands Skiing Corp. · 472 U.S. 585 (1985)
• Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly · 550 U.S. 544 (2007)
• Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. v. Zenith Radio Corporation · 475 U.S. 574 (1986)
• Friends of the Earth, Inc. v. Laidlaw Environmental Services (TOC), Inc. · 528 U.S. 167 (2000)
• Cutter v. Wilkinson · 544 U.S. 709 (2005)
• United States v. Colgate & Co. · 250 U.S. 300 (1919)
• Atlantic Richfield Co. v. USA Petroleum Co. · 495 U.S. 328 (1990)
• Cargill, Inc. v. Monfort of Colorado, Inc. · 479 U.S. 104 (1986)
• American Telephone & Telegraph Co. v. Central Office Telephone, Inc. · 524 U.S. 214 (1998)
• Federal Power Commission v. Conway Corp. · 426 U.S. 271 (1976)

Cited by

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

• F.T.C. v. Actavis, Inc. · 570 U.S. 136 (2013)
• McDaniel v. Brown · 558 U.S. 120 (2010)
• Nutraceutical Corp. v. Lambert · 586 U.S. 188 (2019)
• FCC v. Consumers' Research · 606 U.S. 656 (2025)

Official text

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

Explore from here

John Glover Roberts Jr.’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (2009). 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).