Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/18pdf/17-1702_h315.pdf
Page Number: 4

Cite as:  587 U. S. ____ (2019) 

1 

Opinion of the Court 

NOTICE:  This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the 
preliminary  print  of  the  United  States  Reports.  Readers  are  requested  to 
notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Court of the United States, Wash-
ington,  D. C.  20543,  of  any  typographical  or  other  formal  errors,  in  order 
that corrections may be made before the preliminary print goes to press. 

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES 

_________________ 

No. 17–1702 
_________________ 

MANHATTAN COMMUNITY ACCESS CORPORATION, 
ET AL., PETITIONERS v. DEEDEE HALLECK, ET AL. 

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF 
APPEALS FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT 

[June 17, 2019] 

  JUSTICE KAVANAUGH delivered the opinion of the Court. 
  The  Free  Speech  Clause  of  the  First  Amendment  con-
strains  governmental  actors  and  protects  private  actors.  
To  draw  the  line  between  governmental  and  private,  this 
Court  applies  what  is known  as the state-action  doctrine.  
Under  that  doctrine,  as  relevant  here,  a  private  entity 
may  be  considered  a  state  actor  when it  exercises  a func-
tion  “traditionally  exclusively  reserved  to  the  State.”  
Jackson  v.  Metropolitan  Edison  Co.,  419  U. S.  345,  352 
(1974). 
  This  state-action  case  concerns  the  public  access  chan-
nels on Time Warner’s cable system in Manhattan.  Public 
access  channels  are  available  for  private  citizens  to  use.  
The public access channels on Time Warner’s cable system 
in Manhattan are operated by a private nonprofit corpora-
tion  known  as  MNN.    The  question  here  is  whether 
MNN—even though it is a private entity—nonetheless is a 
state actor when it operates the public access channels.  In 
other  words,  is  operation  of  public  access  channels  on  a 
cable system a traditional, exclusive public function?  If so, 
then the First Amendment would restrict MNN’s exercise