Opinion ID: 220365
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The District Court's First Decision

Text: In 2005, AOSI and Pathfinder sued the Agencies, contending that conditioning Leadership Act funding on the affirmative adoption of a policy opposing prostitution violated the First Amendment by compelling grantees to adopt and voice the government's viewpoint on prostitution, and by restricting grantees from engaging in privately funded expression that the Agencies might deem insufficiently opposed to prostitution. They also asserted that the Policy Requirement was unconstitutionally vague with respect to what sorts of prostitution-related activity and expression were, in fact, restricted. The district court granted AOSI and Pathfinder preliminary injunctive relief. Alliance for Open Soc'y Int'l, Inc. v. U.S. Agency for Int'l Dev., 430 F.Supp.2d 222 (S.D.N.Y.2006) ( Alliance I ). The court engaged in a thorough analysis of the Supreme Court's unconstitutional conditions jurisprudence  focusing, in particular, on Regan v. Taxation With Representation, 461 U.S. 540, 103 S.Ct. 1997, 76 L.Ed.2d 129 (1983), FCC v. League of Women Voters of California, 468 U.S. 364, 104 S.Ct. 3106, 82 L.Ed.2d 278 (1984), and Rust v. Sullivan, 500 U.S. 173, 111 S.Ct. 1759, 114 L.Ed.2d 233 (1991). The court first concluded that, because the Policy Requirement substantially impaired First Amendment protected activity conducted by private entities with private funds as a condition of receiving a government benefit, heightened scrutiny was warranted. Alliance I, 430 F.Supp.2d at 259. The court then concluded that the Policy Requirement, as applied to AOSI and Pathfinder, violated the First Amendment because it was not narrowly tailored, imposed a viewpoint-based restriction on their use of private funds without allowing for adequate alternative channels of communication, and compel[led] speech by affirmatively requiring [them] to adopt a policy espousing the government's preferred message. Id. at 268-76. Accordingly, the court held that AOSI and Pathfinder had demonstrated a likelihood of success on the merits, and had met their burden of showing irreparable harm. Id. at 276, 278. The district court thus preliminarily enjoined Defendants from enforcing the Policy Requirement against AOSI or Pathfinder, and Defendants appealed.