Opinion ID: 776269
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Hybrid Claim

Text: 27 In Smith, the Supreme Court noted that free exercise claims implicating other constitutional protections, such as free speech, could qualify for strict scrutiny review even if the challenged law is neutral and generally applicable. 494 U.S. at 881-82. In this circuit, to make out a hybrid claim, a free exercise plaintiff must make out a colorable claim that a companion right has been violated. Miller, 176 F.3d at 1207 (internal quotation and citation omitted).
28 The Plaintiffs' first free speech argument is that the Defendants have prescribed an orthodoxy of belief on the subject of homosexuality. Although Plaintiffs correctly cite dozens of cases for the principle that the government cannot prescribe matters of opinion or belief, all of these authorities involve conduct beyond mere criticism of speech by a governmental authority. See, e.g., Glickman v. Wileman Brothers & Elliot, Inc., 521 U.S. 457 (1997) (challenge to compelled advertising assessments); Hurley v. Irish-American Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Group of Boston, Inc., 515 U.S. 557 (1995) (challenge to state court decision that compelled private citizens to permit group in parade); Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. v. FCC, 512 U.S. 622 (1994) (challenge to must-carry provisions of cable television act). 29 We agree with the host of other circuits that recognize that public officials may criticize practices that they would have no constitutional ability to regulate, so long as there is no actual or threatened imposition of government power or sanction. See, e.g., Penthouse Int'l Ltd. v. Meese, 939 F.2d 1011, 1015-16 (D.C. Cir. 1991) (public officials entitled to criticize publishers of pornography where letter contained no threat or intimation of intent to prosecute or prescribe publisher's conduct); R.C. Maxwell Co. v. Borough of New Hope, 735 F.2d 85, 89 (3d Cir. 1984) (letters which encouraged but did not threaten or intimidate landowner to terminate lease with billboard owner did not violate billboard owner's First Amendment rights); Hammerhead Enters., Inc. v. Brezenoff, 707 F.2d 33, 38-39 (2d Cir. 1983) (no violation where public official sent letters to retail stores requesting that they refrain from selling a controversial board game, as comments could not reasonably be interpreted as intimating that some form of punishment or adverse regulatory action will follow  failure to comply); cf. Bantam Books, Inc. v. Sullivan , 372 U.S. 58, 68 (1963) (constitutional violation where Rhode Island commission's conduct amounted to thinly veiled threats to institute criminal proceedings against publishers who did not stop circulating publications on commission's list). 30 In this case, although the Defendants may have criticized Plaintiffs' speech (or at least the perceived effect of it) and urged television stations not to air it, there was no sanction or threat of sanction if the Plaintiffs continued to urge conversion of homosexuals or if the television stations failed to adhere to the Defendants' request and aired the advertisements. Therefore, the Plaintiffs have failed to allege a colorable free speech claim and the district court properly dismissed this portion of the hybrid claim.
31 The Plaintiffs' viewpoint discrimination claim fails largely for the same reason. In fact, the opening line in this section of their appellate brief demonstrates the problem: The First Amendment does not permit the City to impose special prohibitions on those speakers who express views on disfavored subjects (emphasis added). Again, the authorities cited by Plaintiff involve sanctions, denial of funding, or some affirmative consequence associated with a particular viewpoint. See, e.g., Rosenberger v. Rector and Visitors of the Univ. of Virginia, 515 U.S. 819 (1995) (University violated First Amendment by refusing to fund Christian student publication while funding other student publications). As with the orthodoxy claim, the Defendants have not imposed or even threatened any prohibitions or sanctions for the Plaintiffs' viewpoint. The district court properly determined that the Plaintiffs had failed to allege a colorable viewpoint discrimination claim and properly dismissed this portion of the hybrid claim as well.