702
Souter, J., dissenting
sive association into an easy trump of any antidiscrimination law.*
If, on the other hand, an expressive association claim has met the conditions Justice Stevens describes as necessary, there may well be circumstances in which the antidiscrimination law must yield, as he says. It is certainly possible for an individual to become so identified with a position as to epitomize it publicly. When that position is at odds with a group's advocated position, applying an antidiscrimination statute to require the group's acceptance of the individual in a position of group leadership could so modify or muddle or frustrate the group's advocacy as to violate the expressive associational right. While it is not our business here to rule on any such hypothetical, it is at least clear that our estimate of the progressive character of the group's position will be irrelevant to the First Amendment analysis if such a case comes to us for decision.
*An expressive association claim is in this respect unlike a basic free speech claim, as Justice Stevens points out; the latter claim, i. e., the right to convey an individual's or group's position, if bona fide, may be taken at face value in applying the First Amendment. This case is thus unlike Hurley v. Irish-American Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Group of Boston, Inc., 515 U. S. 557 (1995).
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