Arkansas Educational Television Commission v. Forbes

The Court has decided that a state-owned television network has no “constitutional obligation to allow every candidate access to” political debates that it sponsors. Ante, at 669. I do not challenge that decision. The judgment of the Court of Appeals should nevertheless be affirmed. The official action that led to the exclusion of respondent Forbes *684from a debate with the two major-party candidates for election to one of Arkansas’ four seats in Congress does not adhere to well-settled constitutional principles. The ad hoc decision of the staff of the Arkansas Educational Television Commission…