Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/12pdf/12-10_21p3.pdf
Page Number: 14

Cite as:  570 U. S. ____ (2013) 

11 

Opinion of the Court 

In  making  this  determination,  the  Court  stressed  that 
“Title X expressly distinguishes between a Title X grantee 
and  a  Title  X  project.”  Id.,  at  196.  The  regulations  gov-
erned  only  the  scope  of  the  grantee’s  Title  X  projects, 
leaving  it  “unfettered  in  its  other  activities.”  Ibid.    “The  
Title  X  grantee  can  continue  to  . . .  engage  in  abortion 
advocacy;  it  simply  is  required  to  conduct  those  activities
through programs that are separate and independent from
the project that receives Title X funds.”  Ibid.  Because the 
regulations did not “prohibit[ ] the recipient from engaging
in the protected conduct outside the scope of the federally 
funded  program,”  they  did  not  run  afoul  of  the  First
Amendment.  Id., at 197. 

B 

As noted, the distinction drawn in these cases—between 
conditions that define the federal program and those that
reach  outside  it—is  not  always  self-evident.    As  Justice 
Cardozo  put  it  in  a  related  context,  “Definition  more
precise  must  abide  the  wisdom  of  the  future.”    Steward 
Machine  Co.  v.  Davis,  301  U. S.  548,  591  (1937).    Here, 
however,  we  are  confident  that  the  Policy  Requirement 
falls on the unconstitutional side of the line. 

To  begin,  it  is  important  to  recall  that  the  Leader-
ship  Act  has  two  conditions  relevant  here.    The  first— 
unchallenged  in  this  litigation—prohibits  Leadership  Act 
funds from being used “to promote or advocate the legali-
zation  or  practice  of  prostitution  or  sex  trafficking.”   22 
U. S. C. §7631(e).  The Government concedes that §7631(e) 
by itself ensures that federal funds will not be used for the
prohibited purposes.  Brief for Petitioners 26–27. 

The  Policy  Requirement  therefore  must  be  doing  some-
thing more—and it is.  The dissent views the Requirement 
as  simply  a  selection  criterion  by  which  the  Government
identifies  organizations  “who  believe  in  its  ideas  to  carry
them to fruition.”  Post, at 1.  As an initial matter, what-