Agency for Int'l Dev. v. Alliance for Open Soc'y Int'l, Inc.

591 U.S. 430, 140 S. Ct. 2082, 207 L. Ed. 2d 654
CourtSupreme Court of the United States
DecidedJune 29, 2020
Docket19-177
StatusPublished
Cited by42 cases

This text of 591 U.S. 430 (Agency for Int'l Dev. v. Alliance for Open Soc'y Int'l, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of the United States primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

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Agency for Int'l Dev. v. Alliance for Open Soc'y Int'l, Inc., 591 U.S. 430, 140 S. Ct. 2082, 207 L. Ed. 2d 654 (2020).

Opinions

Justice KAVANAUGH delivered the opinion of the Court.

*2085In 2003, Congress passed and President George W. Bush signed the United States Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act, known as the Leadership Act. 117 Stat. 711, as amended, 22 U.S.C. § 7601 et seq. Aiming to enhance America's response to the ravages of the global HIV/AIDS crisis, the Leadership Act launched "the largest international public health program of its kind ever created." § 7601(29). The Act has helped save an estimated 17 million lives, primarily in Africa, and is widely viewed as the most successful American foreign aid program since the Marshall Plan.

To advance the global relief effort, Congress has allocated billions of dollars to American and foreign nongovernmental organizations that combat HIV/AIDS abroad. As relevant here, Congress sought to fund only those organizations that have, or agree to have, a "policy explicitly opposing prostitution and sex trafficking." § 7631(f) ; see also § 7631(e) ; 45 C.F.R. § 89.1 (2019). Congress imposed that condition on funding, known as the Policy Requirement, because Congress found that prostitution and sex trafficking "are additional causes of and factors in the spread of the HIV/AIDS epidemic" and that prostitution and sex trafficking "are degrading to women and children." § 7601(23).

Plaintiffs are American nongovernmental organizations that receive Leadership Act funds to fight HIV/AIDS abroad. Plaintiffs have long maintained that they do not want to express their agreement with the American commitment to eradicating prostitution. Plaintiffs consider a public stance of neutrality toward prostitution more helpful to their sensitive work in some parts of the world and also to their full participation in the global efforts to prevent HIV/AIDS.

After enactment of the Leadership Act, plaintiffs challenged the Policy Requirement, alleging that it violated the First Amendment. In 2013, this Court agreed, concluding that the Policy Requirement ran afoul of the free speech principle that the Government "may not deny a benefit to a person on a basis that infringes his constitutionally protected ... freedom of speech."

*2086Agency for Int'l Development v. Alliance for Open Society Int'l, Inc. , 570 U.S. 205, 214, 133 S.Ct. 2321, 186 L.Ed.2d 398 (2013) (internal quotation marks omitted). Therefore, the Policy Requirement no longer applies to American organizations that receive Leadership Act funds, meaning that American organizations can obtain Leadership Act funds even if they do not have a policy explicitly opposing prostitution and sex trafficking.

But as has been the case since 2003, foreign organizations that receive Leadership Act funds remain subject to the Policy Requirement and still must have a policy explicitly opposing prostitution and sex trafficking. Following this Court's 2013 decision barring the Government from enforcing the Policy Requirement against American organizations, plaintiffs returned to court, invoking the First Amendment and seeking to bar the Government from enforcing the Policy Requirement against plaintiffs' legally distinct foreign affiliates. The U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York agreed with plaintiffs and prohibited the Government from enforcing the Policy Requirement against plaintiffs' foreign affiliates. The U. S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed. Judge Straub dissented. He described as "startling" the proposition that the First Amendment could extend to foreign organizations operating abroad. 911 F.3d 104, 112 (2018). The Second Circuit's decision was stayed pending this Court's review, meaning that foreign organizations currently remain subject to the Policy Requirement.

We granted certiorari, 589 U. S. ----, 140 S.Ct. 660, 205 L.Ed.2d 417 (2019), and now reverse the judgment of the Second Circuit. Plaintiffs' position runs headlong into two bedrock principles of American law.

First , it is long settled as a matter of American constitutional law that foreign citizens outside U. S. territory do not possess rights under the U. S. Constitution. Plaintiffs do not dispute that fundamental principle. Tr. of Oral Arg. 58-59; see, e.g. , Boumediene v. Bush , 553 U.S. 723, 770-771, 128 S.Ct. 2229, 171 L.Ed.2d 41 (2008) ; Hamdi v. Rumsfeld , 542 U.S. 507, 558-559, 124 S.Ct. 2633, 159 L.Ed.2d 578 (2004) (Scalia, J., dissenting); United States v. Verdugo-Urquidez , 494 U.S. 259, 265-275, 110 S.Ct. 1056, 108 L.Ed.2d 222 (1990) ; Johnson v. Eisentrager , 339 U.S. 763, 784, 70 S.Ct. 936, 94 L.Ed. 1255 (1950) ; United States ex rel. Turner v. Williams ,

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591 U.S. 430, 140 S. Ct. 2082, 207 L. Ed. 2d 654, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/agency-for-intl-dev-v-alliance-for-open-socy-intl-inc-scotus-2020.