Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/17pdf/16-1140_5368.pdf
Page Number: 17

Cite as:  585 U. S. ____ (2018) 

13 

Opinion of the Court 

patients.  In  Nazi  Germany,  the  Third  Reich  system-
atically violated the separation between state ideology 
and  medical  discourse.  German  physicians  were
taught that they owed a higher duty to the ‘health of 
the  Volk’  than  to  the  health  of  individual  patients.
Recently, Nicolae Ceausescu’s strategy to increase the 
Romanian  birth  rate  included  prohibitions  against 
giving advice to patients about the use of birth control 
devices  and  disseminating  information  about  the  use
of condoms as a means of preventing the transmission
of AIDS.”  Berg, Toward a First Amendment Theory of 
Doctor-Patient  Discourse  and  the  Right  To  Receive 
Unbiased  Medical  Advice,  74  B. U.  L. Rev.  201,  201– 
202 (1994) (footnotes omitted). 

Further,  when  the  government  polices  the  content  of
professional speech, it can fail to “ ‘preserve an uninhibited 
marketplace  of  ideas  in  which  truth  will  ultimately  pre-
vail.’ ”  McCullen v. Coakley, 573 U. S. ___, ___–___ (2014) 
(slip op., at 8–9).  Professionals might have a host of good-
faith  disagreements,  both  with  each  other  and  with  the
government,  on  many  topics  in  their  respective  fields. 
Doctors  and  nurses  might  disagree  about  the  ethics  of 
assisted  suicide  or  the  benefits  of  medical  marijuana;
lawyers and marriage counselors might disagree about the 
prudence  of  prenuptial  agreements  or  the  wisdom  of  di-
vorce;  bankers  and  accountants  might  disagree  about  the 
amount of money that should be devoted to savings or the 
benefits  of  tax  reform.   “[T]he  best  test  of  truth  is  the
power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competi-
tion  of  the  market,”  Abrams  v.  United  States,  250  U. S. 
616,  630  (1919)  (Holmes,  J.,  dissenting),  and  the  people 
lose when the government is the one deciding which ideas
should prevail.

“Professional speech” is also a difficult category to define
with  precision.  See  Entertainment  Merchants  Assn.,  564