Court Opinion

ID: 9426625
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:18:28.892141+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:23:01.960606
License: Public Domain

*180Mr. Justice Stewart,
concurring in the judgment.
The school board of the city of Madison, acting in accordance with state law, invited all members of the public to attend an open meeting whose agenda included discussion of the desirability of an agency-shop arrangement. The board was entirely willing to hear Holmquist, speaking simply as a member of the community, express his views on this subject. Holmquist did not seek, at the meeting or at any other time, to reach agreement or to bargain with the board. The mere expression of an opinion about a matter subject to collective bargaining, whether or not the speaker is a member of the bargaining unit, poses no genuine threat to the policy of exclusive representation that Wisconsin has adopted. I therefore agree that the order entered by the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission unconstitutionally restricts freedom of speech.
Mr. Justice Brennan’s concurring opinion reaffirms Mr. Justice Holmes’ observation that “[t]he Constitution does not require all public acts to be done in town meeting or an assembly of the whole.” Bi-Metallic Investment Co. v. State Board of Equalization, 239 U. S. 441, 445. A public body that may make decisions in private has broad authority to structure the discussion of matters that it chooses to open to the public. Such a body surely is not prohibited from limiting discussion at public meetings to those subjects that it believes will be illuminated by the views of others. And in trying to best serve its informational needs while rationing its time, I should suppose a public body has broad authority to permit only selected individuals — for example, those who are recognized experts on a matter under consideration — to express their opinions. I write simply to emphasize that we are not called upon in this case to consider what constitutional limitations there may be upon a governmental body’s authority to structure discussion at public meetings.