The court vote was 6–2 and
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in
his majority opinion that the law
violated the First Amendment free
speech rights of non-governmental
organisations (NGOs). He wrote that
the government could set conditions
on funding but not “seek to leverage
funding to regulate speech” that falls
outside programmes. “The case is
not about the government’s ability
to enlist the assistance of those with
whom it already agrees”, he said. “It is
about compelling a grant recipient to
adopt a particular belief as a condition
of funding.”
The condition constituted “the
affirmation of a belief that by its
nature cannot be confined within
the scope of the government
programme”, meaning it violated the
First Amendment.