For Corporate Speech, the Other Shoe Is Yet to Drop

Corporations will now think twice before defending themselves via advertising or public relations efforts. Last week the U.S. Supreme Court failed to resolve the issue of corporate free speech when it dismissed Nike v. Kasky on a technicality, sending the case back to California, where it will likely linger in appeals court for years.

Without definitive legal protection, the decision is likely to result in a self-imposed gag order among corporations, with the reasoning that the less said about issues affecting them the better.