Opinion ID: 1374852
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Unconstitutional Conditions

Text: Petitioners next argue that by conditioning the state's largess (liquor licenses) upon the relinquishment of a constitutional right (freedom of association), the state is unconstitutionally conditioning the bestowal of a privilege. However, as explained above, this argument is inapplicable to the suspension of the Elks' and the Moose's liquor licenses because the Elks and the Moose are not entitled to the degree of constitutional protection they claim. Roberts, 468 U.S. at 623, 104 S.Ct. at 3252; Beynon, 854 P.2d at 518. By accepting liquor licenses, these clubs become enterprises regulated by the state. To the extent their activities are subject to state regulation, those activities cannot be said to be `private' in any meaningful sense of that term. Roberts, 468 U.S. at 631, 104 S.Ct. at 3256 (O'Connor, J., concurring); see also Beynon, 854 P.2d at 515; Coalition For Open Doors v. Annapolis Lodge No. 622, Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks, 333 Md. 359, 635 A.2d 412, 413 (1994). Having made the decision to accept a liquor license, the Elks and the Moose have voluntarily surrendered a portion of their private status. By entering the public sphere, albeit in a limited fashion, they have voluntarily surrendered the right of private discrimination on prohibited grounds. See Cornelius, 382 F.Supp. at 1195. Because our decision affects only that portion of petitioners' activities that are in the public sphere, it does not impinge upon the right to free association, a private right. See Roberts, 468 U.S. at 620, 104 S.Ct. at 3251. Therefore, the condition that the state imposes upon all liquor licensees  compliance with all state laws  does not, either directly or indirectly, remove any constitutional rights of the Elks or the Moose. There is no constitutional right to discriminate in the public, as opposed to the private, sphere. In support of their position, petitioners urge us to adhere to a treatise on unconstitutional conditions by Professor Van Alstyne, where he instructs that what the government cannot do directly, it ought not be able to do indirectly by coercing parties to forfeit constitutional rights the government could not itself suspend. See William W. Van Alstyne, The Demise of the Right-Privilege Distinction in Constitutional Law, 81 Harv.L.Rev. 1439 (1968). However, Professor Van Alstyne also acknowledges: The doctrine of unconstitutional conditions has usually been applied only to regulations which directly forbid the enjoyment of an explicit constitutional right. The doctrine has been of little assistance in those situations, however, where the regulation of status in the public sector has had only an indirect effect on such a right, without directly and wholly forbidding its exercise.... [O]ne has no constitutional right per se to status in the public sector. Id. at 1449 (emphasis added). Justice Stewart's opinion also argues that requiring the state liquor licensees to comply with the UCRA would place an unconstitutional condition upon those clubs. He states, Whether the Moose lodges `voluntarily' seek the privilege of a liquor license or whether they are compelled through operation of the state's police power to do so, the regulatory scheme imposes the condition of giving up constitutional rights of freedom of association for the receipt of a benefit from the state. However, Justice Stewart's opinion ignores the operative premise that a state can place conditions on the bestowal of benefits; it simply cannot place an unconstitutional condition on that bestowal. Justice Stewart's point would be equally applicable to the Supreme Court in Katzenbach. There, the state forced a privately owned restaurant to give up an associational choice of excluding black patrons before it would grant state licensing. Katzenbach, 379 U.S. at 299-300, 85 S.Ct. at 381-382. This is precisely the police power that Justice Stewart now attacks. This condition was nevertheless constitutional because the restaurant owner had no right to discriminate publicly. Likewise, the Moose and the Elks may very well be allowed to discriminate in their private meetings. However, where they seek to operate a state-licensed liquor club, the state is permitted to enforce its civil rights act. Beynon, 854 P.2d at 518. Hence, the condition placed on liquor club licensing is not unconstitutional. In sum, our decision does not impose an unconstitutional condition upon the Elks or the Moose because our ruling affects an area of those organizations' activities that does not encompass the right of free association. Roberts, 468 U.S. at 623, 104 S.Ct. at 3254; Cornelius, 382 F.Supp. at 1195; Beynon, 854 P.2d at 518. Again, the condition of nondiscrimination does not require petitioners to sacrifice any constitutional right that they now possess.