Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/19pdf/19-177_b97c.pdf
Page Number: 28

Cite as:  591 U. S. ____ (2020) 

15 

BREYER, J., dissenting 

simply  whether  the  Government  has  demanded  a  profes-
sion of belief that will distort the speaker’s message.  How 
the Government causes that distortion makes no constitu-
tional difference.  And as explained, enforcing the Policy Re-
quirement  against  respondents’  clearly  identified  foreign
affiliates would plainly distort respondents’ message.  See 
supra, at 7–8, 10.  That violates respondents’ First Amend-
ment rights. 

C 

So far as I am aware, we have never before held that an 
American  speaker  forfeits  First  Amendment  protection
when it speaks though foreign affiliates to reach audiences 
overseas.  It is easy to understand why. 

foreign  affiliates,  usually 

Many American news networks operate through clearly 
identified foreign affiliates when speaking abroad.  Viewers 
attribute that speech to an American speaker: the network.
That  is  the  whole  point  of  using  clearly  identified  foreign
affiliates.    For  example,  CNN  speaks  to  audiences  in
the  Philippines,  Brazil,  Indonesia,  and  other  countries
styled  as  CNN 
using 
Philippines,  CNN  Brazil,  CNN  Indonesia,  and  so  on. 
See  CNN  Worldwide  Fact  Sheet  (Oct.  2019),  https:// 
cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com/cnn-fact-sheet.  But does that 
corporate  structure  mean  that  CNN—i.e.,  the  American 
parent  organization—has  no  First  Amendment  protection 
against a Government effort to, say, prevent CNN Mexico 
from  covering  the  fatal  shooting  of  a  Mexican  child  by  a 
U. S.  Border  Patrol  agent?    Cf. Hernández  v.  Mesa,  589 
U. S. ___ (2020) (Hernández II ).  Or to compel CNN Mexico 
to run a different story, perhaps one produced by Govern-
ment personnel, that praises American policy at the border? 
We should be highly skeptical.  If the Government com-
mandeered  CNN’s  clearly  identified  foreign  affiliate  in
these  or  similar  ways,  whether  by  monetary  pressure  or