400
O'Connor, J., dissenting
* * *
We hold that where, as here, the Government creates a corporation by special law, for the furtherance of governmental objectives, and retains for itself permanent authority to appoint a majority of the directors of that corporation, the corporation is part of the Government for purposes of the First Amendment. We express no opinion as to whether Amtrak's refusal to display Lebron's advertisement violated that Amendment, but leave it to the Court of Appeals to decide that. The judgment of the Court of Appeals is reversed, and the case is remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
It is so ordered.
Justice O'Connor, dissenting.
The Court holds that Amtrak is a Government entity and therefore all of its actions are subject to constitutional challenge. Lebron, however, expressly disavowed this argument below, and consideration of this broad and unexpected question is precluded because it was not presented in the petition for certiorari. The question on which we granted certiorari is narrower: Whether the alleged suppression of Lebron's speech by Amtrak, as a concededly private entity, should be imputed to the Government. Because Amtrak's decision to reject Lebron's billboard proposal was a matter of private business judgment and not of Government coercion, I would affirm the judgment below.
I
This Court's Rule 14.1(a) provides: "Only the questions set forth in the petition, or fairly included therein, will be considered by the Court." While "[t]he statement of any question
to common stock. This subsection was originally enacted in 1970, and has not since been amended. It is irreconcilable with the revised provision for a nine-member board, § 543(a)(1).
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