Court Says Reagan May Ban Groups From Charity Drive : Backs His Exclusion of Political, Legal Advocacy Agencies From Federal Fund Campaign

The Reagan Administration may exclude nonprofit political and legal advocacy groups from sharing in the government’s $100-million annual campaign for charitable donations by federal employees, the Supreme Court ruled Tuesday.

The justices, concluding their current term, reversed by a vote of 4 to 3 a ruling that required the Administration to allow a wide range of such organizations--some liberal, some conservative--to participate in the drive along with traditional health and welfare groups.

“The President could reasonably conclude that a dollar directly spent on providing food or shelter to the needy is more beneficial than a dollar spent on litigation that might or might not result in aid to the needy,” Justice Sandra Day O’Connor wrote for the majority.

Not a ‘Public Forum’

The court found that, although soliciting charitable donations was a form of constitutionally protected speech, the federal fund drive was not a “public forum” with guaranteed access for all organizations. The restrictions, on their face, are permissible--so long as they are not a facade for discrimination, the court said.

The excluded groups in the case could return to a federal trial court to try to prove that the limits were “impermissibly motivated by a desire to suppress a particular point of view,” the justices said. Spokesmen for the groups said that they would do so and predicted that they would prevail.

Charles Stephen Ralston, an attorney representing the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund in the case, said that the ruling “leaves open our being able to convince the federal District Court (that) the real reason for excluding us was that the Reagan Administration doesn’t like us, which has always been our contention, and we will pursue that.”

A United Way of America spokesman said that the ruling “will help restore order and some priorities to the Combined Federal Campaign.”

The Combined Federal Campaign is a nationwide charity drive among 4 million civilian and military employees. It was instituted more than two decades ago after increasing numbers of tax-exempt, nonprofit groups demanded individual access to the work place to solicit federal employees.

Under the plan, contributors can make donations to any particular group from a list of approved charitable organizations--or they can contribute to a general campaign fund.

Until 1980, the list was restricted to traditional groups. But several political and legal organizations that year contested the Jimmy Carter Administration’s refusal to allow their participation and won a court ruling gaining admission to the drive.

In 1983, President Reagan issued an executive order limiting the list again and prohibiting groups that “seek to influence the outcomes of elections or the determination of public policy through political activity or advocacy, lobbying, or litigation . . . .”

Order Challenged

The new order was challenged by the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund, the Puerto Rican Legal Defense Fund and others that had received a total of $2 million from the campaign the year before. Meanwhile, other groups--including the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation and the Conservative Legal Defense and Education Fund--were allowed to participate as the result of the court proceedings.

In February, 1984, a federal appeals court in Washington ruled that the Administration had violated the excluded groups’ right to free speech.

The Administration appealed the ruling, gaining support from several traditional organizations, including the United Black Fund of America, the American Cancer Society and the American Red Cross. They argued that the restriction helped avoid the appearance of political favoritism by the government.

The justices upheld the Administration, finding that the restrictions were a reasonable way of trying to minimize disruption in the workplace, ensure success of the campaign and avoid the appearance of political favoritism (Cornelius vs. NAACP, 84-312). But the court noted that whether the restrictions were improperly motivated had not been resolved in the earlier proceedings.

O’Connor’s opinion was joined by Chief Justice Warren E. Burger and Justices Byron R. White and William H. Rehnquist. Justices Thurgood Marshall and Lewis F. Powell Jr. did not participate.

In dissent, Justice Harry A. Blackmun, joined by Justice William J. Brennan Jr., said that there was sufficient showing that the Administration had discriminated against the advocacy groups because of their views. He pointed out that dozens of groups--including those that aid the arts and athletics--were placed on the list, although they did not provide food, shelter or other assistance directly to the needy. Justice John Paul Stevens dissented separately.

In another case, the justices ruled 5 to 3 that a conviction need not be reversed automatically when prosecutors fail to disclose before trial evidence that could enable a defendant to impeach government witnesses. Reversal is required only if such evidence might have affected the outcome of the trial, the court said. The decision overturned a ruling by the federal appeals court in San Francisco (U.S. vs. Bagley, 84-48).