Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/21pdf/20-1800_7lho.pdf
Page Number: 9

Cite as:  596 U. S. ____ (2022) 

5 

Opinion of the Court 

groups’ flags from City Hall’s third pole amounted to gov-
ernment speech.  See 2020 WL 555248, *5, ___ F. Supp. 3d 
___, ___ (Mass., Feb. 4, 2020).  Hence, the city acted within 
its constitutional authority in declining to raise Camp Con-
stitution’s flag.  Id., at *3, *5.  The District Court therefore 
granted summary judgment for Boston.  The First Circuit 
affirmed.  See 986 F. 3d 78 (2021). 

Shurtleff  and  Camp  Constitution  next  petitioned  this
Court for certiorari.  We agreed to decide whether the flags
Boston allows groups to fly express government speech, and 
whether  Boston  could,  consistent  with  the  Free  Speech
Clause, deny petitioners’ flag-raising request. 

II 
A 
The first and basic question we must answer is whether 
Boston’s  flag-raising  program  constitutes  government
speech.  If so, Boston may refuse flags based on viewpoint. 
The First Amendment’s Free Speech Clause does not pre-
vent the government from declining to express a view.  See 
Pleasant  Grove  City  v.  Summum,  555  U. S.  460,  467–469 
(2009).  When the government wishes to state an opinion, 
to speak for the community, to formulate policies, or to im-
plement  programs,  it  naturally  chooses  what  to  say  and 
what not to say.  See Walker, 576 U. S., at 207–208.  That 
must be true for government to work.  Boston could not eas-
ily congratulate the Red Sox on a victory were the city pow-
erless  to  decline  to  simultaneously  transmit  the  views  of 
disappointed Yankees fans.  The Constitution therefore re-
lies first and foremost on the ballot box, not on rules against 
viewpoint discrimination, to check the government when it 
speaks.    See  Board  of  Regents  of  Univ.  of  Wis.  System  v. 
Southworth, 529 U. S. 217, 235 (2000).

The  boundary  between  government  speech  and  private
expression can blur when, as here, a government invites the 
people  to  participate  in  a  program.  In  those  situations,