Arkansas Ban on State Contractors Boycotting Israel Upheld

Arkansas’ requirement that all state contractors certify that they won’t boycott Israel for the length of their contract doesn’t violate the First Amendment, the en banc Eighth Circuit said Wednesday.

Arkansas Times LP, a newspaper that contracts with the University of Arkansas-Pulaski Technical College, claimed that the requirement placed an unconstitutional restriction on the award of government contracts and amounted to compelled speech.

The statute defines boycotting Israel as “engaging in refusals to deal, terminating business activities, or other actions that are intended to limit commercial relations with Israel.”

The basic dispute was whether the statute only covers unexpressive commercial ...