# San Francisco Arts & Athletics, Inc. v. United States Olympic Committee

> Supreme Court of the United States · June 25, 1987 · 483 U.S. 522

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9431111

## Case

- **Full name:** SAN FRANCISCO ARTS & ATHLETICS, INC., Et Al. v. UNITED STATES OLYMPIC COMMITTEE Et Al.
- **Court:** Supreme Court of the United States
- **Decided:** June 25, 1987
- **Citations:** 483 U.S. 522; 55 U.S.L.W. 5061; 3 U.S.P.Q. 2d (BNA) 1145; 107 S. Ct. 2971; 97 L. Ed. 2d 427; 1987 U.S. LEXIS 2895
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Concurring in part by O'Connor
- **Judges:** Blackmun, Brennan, Marshall, O'Connor, Powell, Rehnquist, Stevens, White
- **Cited by:** 487 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9431111

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- holding that a statute prohibiting certain commercial and promotional uses of the word “Olympic” was not a content-based restriction on speech, even though it allegedly “suppressed] political speech” by restricting the defendants’ ability to “convey a political statement about…
- holding that U.S. Olympic Committee is not a governmental actor despite federal charter, regulation, and funding
- finding that granting of a corporate charter by Congress does not create state action because "[e]ven extensive regulation by the government does not transform the actions of the regulated entity into those of the government."
- recognizing the government’s interest in preventing misappropriation of the term “Olympics,” and analogizing that prohibition to 18 U.S.C. § 705, which prohibits the unauthorized use of the insignia of veterans’ organizations
- recognizing that "[t]he Fourteenth Amendment applies to actions by a State,” and where "[t]he claimed association ... is between the USOC and the Federal Government .... the Fourteenth Amendment does not apply”

## Opinion text

Justice O’Connor,
with whom
Justice Blackmun joins, concurring in part and dissenting in part.
I agree with the Court’s construction of § 110 of the Amateur Sports Act, 92 Stat. 3048 , 36 U. S. C. § 380 , and with its holding that the statute is “within constitutional bounds.” Ante, at 535. Therefore, I join Parts I through III of the Court’s opinion. But largely for the reasons explained by Justice Brennan in Part I-B of his dissenting opinion, I believe the United States Olympic Committee and the United States are joint participants in the challenged activity and as such are subject to the equal protection provisions of the Fifth Amendment. Accordingly, I would reverse the Court of Appeals’ finding of no Government action and remand the case for determination of petitioners’ claim of discriminatory enforcement.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9431111. Public record. Not legal advice.