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Page Number: 31.0

12 

SHURTLEFF v. BOSTON 

ALITO, J., concurring in judgment 

for private parties to express their own views.  The govern-
ment can of course speak as a participant in a forum, but 
the creation of a space for private discourse does not involve 
expressing  a  governmental  message,  deputizing  private 
parties to express it, or adopting a private party’s contribu-
tion as a vehicle of government speech.  So when examina-
tion of the government’s “policy and practice” indicates that
the  government  has  “intentionally  open[ed]  a  nontradi-
tional forum for public discourse,” a court may immediately
infer that private-party expression in the forum is not gov-
ernment speech. Cornelius v. NAACP Legal Defense & Ed. 
Fund, Inc., 473 U. S. 788, 802 (1985).  There is no need to 
consider  history,  public  perception,  or  control  in  the  ab-
stract. 

B 
Analyzed  under  this  framework,  the  flag  displays  were
plainly private speech within a forum created by the City,
not government speech.  The record attests that the City’s
application materials—which were the only written form of
guidance available on the program prior to the adoption of
a written policy in 2018—characterized the flagpoles as one
of  the  City’s  “public  forums.”  App.  to  Pet.  for  Cert.  137a. 
The application guidelines did not enumerate any criteria
for access to the flagpoles that go beyond those typical of a
resource that has been made generally available to the pub-
lic.  Id., at 137a–140a. The first rejection of an application
was the denial of Camp Constitution’s application in 2017. 
Id., at 150a–158a.  Prior to then, the City never rejected any 
request to raise a flag submitted by any private party.  And 
private speakers accounted for 78% of the flag-raising ap-
plicants.  See Reply Brief 8.

A  program  with  this  design  cannot  possibly  constitute
government speech.  The City did nothing to indicate an in-
tent to communicate a message.  Clark, 468 U. S., at 294. 
Nor did it deputize private speakers or appropriate private-