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method to promote these commodities is neither accepted nor rejected by this Court, which instead stresses the importance of the statutory context in which the question at issue arises. Under the AMAA, detailed marketing orders have displaced many aspects of independent business activity characterizing other portions of the economy in which competition is fully protected by the antitrust laws. Business entities are compelled to fund generic advertising as part of a broader collective enterprise in which the regulatory scheme already constrains their freedom to act independently. It is in this context that the Court considers whether to review the assessments at issue under the standard appropriate to economic regulation or under a heightened First Amendment standard. Pp. 467–469.

(b) The Ninth Circuit erred in relying on Central Hudson to test the constitutionality of market order assessments for promotional advertising. Three characteristics of the generic advertising scheme distinguish it from laws this Court has found to abridge free speech. First, the marketing orders impose no restraint on any respondents' freedom to communicate any message to any audience. Second, they do not compel anyone to engage in any actual or symbolic speech. Cf., e. g., West Virginia Bd. of Ed. v. Barnette, 319 U. S. 624, 632. Third, they do not compel anyone to endorse or to finance any political or ideological views. Cf., e. g., Wooley v. Maynard, 430 U. S. 705. Indeed, since respondents market California tree fruits, they may all be presumed to agree with the central message of the speech generated by the generic program. Thus, none of the Court's First Amendment jurisprudence supports the suggestion that the promotional regulations should be scrutinized under a different standard from that applicable to the marketing orders' other anticompetitive features. Respondents' criticisms of the generic advertising and their contention that the assessments reduce the sums respondents use to conduct their own advertising provide no basis for concluding that accurate advertising constitutes an abridgment of anybody's right to speak freely. Nor does the First Amendment forbid all compelled financial contributions to fund advertising. Abood v. Detroit Bd. of Ed., 431 U. S. 209, and the cases that follow it, prohibit compelled contributions for expressive activities that conflict with one's freedom of belief. The advertising here does not promote any particular message with which respondents disagree. The fact that respondents may prefer to foster that message in other ways does not make this case comparable to those involving political or ideological disagreement. Moreover, some of the relevant cases suggest that assessments to fund a lawful collective program may be used to pay for nonideological speech over the objection of some members of the group if the speech is germane to the purpose for which the compelled association was justified.

Syllabus

See, e. g., Keller v. State Bar of Cal., 496 U. S. 1, 13-14. This test is clearly satisfied here because (1) the generic advertising of California tree fruit is unquestionably germane to the marketing orders' purposes and, (2) in any event, the assessments are not used to fund ideological activities. Although the wisdom of the generic advertising program may be questioned, its debatable features are insufficient to warrant special First Amendment scrutiny. Pp. 469-474.

(c) The Ninth Circuit's decision to apply the Central Hudson test is inconsistent with the very nature and purpose of the collective action program at issue. The AMAA rests on an assumption that in the volatile agricultural commodities markets the public will be best served by compelling cooperation among producers in making economic decisions that would be made independently in a free market. The First Amendment does not provide a basis for reviewing such economic regulation, which enjoys the same strong presumption of validity that this Court accords to other policy judgments made by Congress. Appropriate respect for Congress' power to regulate interstate commerce provides abundant support for the marketing orders' constitutionality. Generic advertising is intended to stimulate consumer demand for an agricultural product in a regulated market. That purpose is legitimate and consistent with the regulatory goals of the overall statutory scheme. The mere fact that one or more producers do not wish to foster generic advertising of their product is not a sufficient reason for judges to override the judgment of the majority of market participants, bureaucrats, and legislators that such programs are beneficial. Pp. 474-477. 58 F.3d 1367, reversed.

STEVENS, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which O'CONNOR, KENNEDY, GINSBURG, and BREYER, JJ., joined. SOUTER, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which REHNQUIST, C. J., and SCALIA, J., joined, and in which THOMAS, J., joined except as to Part II, post, p. 477. THOMAS, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which SCALIA, J., joined as to Part II, post, p. 504.

Alan Jenkins argued the cause for petitioner. With him on the briefs were Acting Solicitor General Dellinger, Assistant Attorney General Hunger, Deputy Solicitor General Kneedler, Douglas N. Letter, Irene M. Solet, and Daniel Bensing.

Thomas E. Campagne argued the cause for respondents. With him on the brief for Wileman Bros. & Elliott, Inc., et al. was Clifford C. Kemper. Michael W. McConnell, Alan E.

Opinion of the Court

Untereiner, Gary A. Orseck, and James A. Moody filed a brief for respondents Gerawan Farming, Inc., et al.*

JUSTICE STEVENS delivered the opinion of the Court.

A number of growers, handlers, and processors of California tree fruits (respondents) brought this proceeding to challenge the validity of various regulations contained in marketing orders promulgated by the Secretary of Agriculture. The orders impose assessments on respondents that cover the expenses of administering the orders, including the cost of generic advertising of California nectarines, plums, and peaches. The question presented to us is whether the requirement that respondents finance such generic advertising

*Briefs of amici curiae urging reversal were filed for the State of Arizona et al. by Daniel E. Lungren, Attorney General of California, Charles W. Getz IV, Assistant Attorney General, and Edna Walz, Deputy Attorney General, and by the Attorneys General for their respective States as follows: Grant Woods of Arizona, Robert A. Butterworth of Florida, Frank J. Kelley of Michigan, Don Stenberg of Nebraska, Peter Verniero of New Jersey, Dennis C. Vacco of New York, Theodore R. Kulongoski of Oregon, Jeffrey L. Amestoy of Vermont, and James S. Gilmore II of Virginia; for the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations by Jonathan P. Hiatt, James B. Coppess, Mark Schneider, and Laurence Gold; for the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture et al. by John G. Roberts, Jr., and Richard T. Rossier; and for the Washington Apple Commission et al. by Robert S. Hedrick, George H. Soares, Dale A. Stern, Kendall L. Manock, Charles K. Manock, and Patrick J. Kole.

Briefs of amici curiae urging affirmance were filed for the American Advertising Federation et al. by Richard E. Wiley, Daniel E. Troy, Robert L. Sherman, John F. Kamp, David S. Versfelt, and Slade Metcalf; for the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, Inc., by John C. Scully; for the Sun-Maid Growers of California by Catherine A. Conway and Vincent M. Waldman; for Treehouse Farms, Inc., by Timothy B. Dyk; and for the Washington Legal Foundation et al. by Daniel J. Popeo and Richard A. Samp.

Briefs of amici curiae were filed for the Pacific Legal Foundation by Sharon L. Browne; and for the United Sheep Producers by Brian C. Leighton.

Opinion of the Court

is a law "abridging the freedom of speech" within the meaning of the First Amendment.

I

Congress enacted the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937 (AMAA), ch. 296, 50 Stat. 246, as amended, 7 U.S. C. §601 et seq., in order to establish and maintain orderly marketing conditions and fair prices for agricultural commodities. §8602(1). Marketing orders promulgated pursuant to the AMAA are a species of economic regulation that has displaced competition in a number of discrete markets; they are expressly exempted from the antitrust laws. § 608b. Collective action, rather than the aggregate consequences of independent competitive choices, characterizes these regulated markets. In order "to avoid unreasonable fluctuations in supplies and prices," § 602(4), these orders may include mechanisms that provide a uniform price to all producers in a particular market,' that limit the quality and the quantity of the commodity that may be marketed, §§ 608c(6)(A), (7), that determine the grade and size of the commodity, § 608c(6)(A), and that make an orderly disposition of any surplus that might depress market prices, ibid. Pursuant to the policy of collective, rather than competitive, marketing, the orders also authorize joint research and development projects, inspection procedures that ensure uniform quality, and even certain standardized packaging requirements. §§ 608c(6)(D), (H), (I). The expenses of administering such orders, including specific projects undertaken to serve the economic interests of the cooperating producers, are "paid from funds collected pursuant to the marketing order." §§ 608c(6)(I), 610(b)(2)(ii).

Marketing orders must be approved by either two-thirds of the affected producers or by producers who market at

1

1 See, e. g., United States v. Rock Royal Co-operative, Inc., 307 U. S. 533 (1939); West Lynn Creamery, Inc. v. Healy, 512 U. S. 186, 188-189 (1994).

Opinion of the Court

least two-thirds of the volume of the commodity. §608c(9)(B). The AMAA restricts the marketing orders "to the smallest regional production areas . . . practicable." §608c(11)(b). The orders are implemented by committees composed of producers and handlers of the regulated commodity, appointed by the Secretary, who recommend rules to the Secretary governing marketing matters such as fruit size and maturity levels. 7 CFR §§916.23, 916.62, 917.25, 917.30 (1997). The committees also determine the annual rate of assessments to cover the expenses of administration, inspection services, research, and advertising and promotion. §§ 916.31(c), 917.35(f).

Among the collective activities that Congress authorized for certain specific commodities is "any form of marketing promotion including paid advertising." 7 U. S. C. § 608c(6) (I).2 The authorized promotional activities, like the marketing orders themselves, are intended to serve the producers' common interest in disposing of their output on favorable terms. The central message of the generic advertising at issue in this case is that "California Summer Fruits" are wholesome, delicious, and attractive to discerning shoppers. See App. 530. All of the relevant advertising, insofar as it is authorized by the statute and the Secretary's regulations, is designed to serve the producers' and handlers' common interest in promoting the sale of a particular product.3

2 Congress amended the AMAA in 1954 to authorize the Secretary to establish "marketing... development projects." See Agricultural Act of 1954, § 401(c), 68 Stat. 906.

3 Those regulations include provisions minimizing the risk that the generic advertising might adversely affect the interests of any individual producer. See 7 U. S. C. § 608c(16)(A)(i) (providing for termination or suspension of an order that does not "effectuate the declared policy" of the AMAA); § 608c(16)(B) (providing for termination of an order if a majority of producers does not support a regulation); § 608c(15)(A) (allowing handlers subject to a marketing order to petition for modification or exemption from an order that is inconsistent with the statute). For the purpose of this case, we assume that those regulations accomplish their goals, and that the generic advertising programs therefore further the interests of

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