What is Wrong with Compelled Speech?

Abstract

In late August 2013, the New Mexico Supreme Court filed its opinion in Elane Photography, LLC v. Willock, a case which raises fundamental issues in the law of compelled speech, including corporate rights, media boundaries, autonomy and conscience, and the role that the nature of speech, the character of the discourse, the perception of endorsement, and the nature of the participation should play in resolving compelled speech issues. In this essay, I want to reflect on these and other issues presented by the case.

Keywords: Free speech, compelled speech, first amendment, photography, media, corporate rights