Arkansas Educational Television Commission v. Forbes

Arkansas Educational Television Commission v. Forbes
Supreme Court of the United States
Decided May 18, 1998
Full case name	Arkansas Educational Television Commission v. Forbes
Citations	523 U.S. 666 ( more )
Holding
State-owned public television networks are not required to invite minor party candidates with few supporters to major party debates because the networks are not public forums.
Court membership
Chief Justice William Rehnquist Associate Justices John P. Stevens  · Sandra Day O'Connor Antonin Scalia  · Anthony Kennedy David Souter  · Clarence Thomas Ruth Bader Ginsburg  · Stephen Breyer
Case opinions
Majority	Kennedy
Dissent	Stevens, joined by Souter, Ginsburg

Arkansas Educational Television Commission v. Forbes, 523 U.S. 666 (1998), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the court held that state-owned public television networks are not required to invite minor-party candidates with few supporters to major-party debates because the networks are not public forums. ^{[1] [2]}

The dispute was between the neo-Nazi candidate Ralph Perry Forbes and the Arkansas Educational Television Commission. ^[3]

References

1. Arkansas Educational Television Commission v. Forbes, 523 U.S. 666 (1998).
2. Lieberman, Jethro K. (1999). "Public Forum". A Practical Companion to the Constitution. p. 564.
3. Edmonds, Revis. "Ralph Perry Forbes (1940–2018)". Encyclopedia of Arkansas . Retrieved June 7, 2025.

External links

• Text of Arkansas Educational Television Commission v. Forbes, 523 U.S. 666(1998) is available from: Cornell Findlaw Justia