Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/23pdf/22-277_d18f.pdf
Page Number: 79.0

Cite as:  603 U. S. ____ (2024) 

17 

ALITO, J., concurring in judgment 

about the poets and poems that most deserve the attention
of their anticipated readers.  Forcing the editors to exclude 
or include a poem could alter the expression that the editors 
wish to convey.

Not all compilations, however, have this expressive char-
acteristic.  Suppose that the head of a neighborhood group
prepares a directory consisting of contact information sub-
mitted by all the residents who want to be listed.  This di-
rectory would not include any meaningful expression on the
part of the compiler. 

Because not all compilers express a message of their own, 
not all compilations are protected by the First Amendment.
Instead, the First Amendment protects only those compila-
tions  that  are  “inherently  expressive”  in  their  own  right,
meaning  that  they  select  and  present  speech  created  by
other persons in order “to spread [the compiler’s]  own mes-
sage.”  FAIR,  547  U. S.,  at  66;  Pacific  Gas  &  Elec.  Co.  v. 
Public Util. Comm’n of Cal., 475 U. S. 1, 10 (1986) (PG&E)
(plurality  opinion).  If  a  compilation  is  inherently  expres-
sive, then the compiler may have the right to refuse to ac-
commodate a particular speaker or message.  See Hurley, 
515 U. S., at 573.  But if a compilation is not inherently ex-
pressive, then the government can require the compiler to
host a message or speaker because the accommodation does
not amount to compelled speech.  Id., at 578–581. 

To show that a hosting requirement would compel speech 
and thereby trigger First Amendment scrutiny, a claimant 
must generally show three things. 

1 
First, a claimant must establish that its practice is to ex-
ercise  “editorial  discretion  in  the  selection  and  presenta-
tion”  of  the  content  it  hosts.  Arkansas  Ed.  Television 
Comm’n  v.  Forbes,  523  U. S.  666,  674  (1998); Hurley,  515 
U. S., at 574; ante, at 14.  NetChoice describes this process