Conditional Spending and the First Amendment: Maintaining the Commitment to Rational Liberal Dialogue

Questions concerning the constitutional validity of conditions placed on recipients of government funds have a long history,' but they recently have received greater attention as the types of constitutional concerns have changed. Earlier cases dealt with issues of federalism, and claims that conditions unduly limited states in the exercise of their reserved powers. As courts moved to a generally consistent position of deference to Congressional choices concerning the proper distribution of power between the states and the national government, challenges to conditional spending faded in both their significance and interest.' This Article maintains that the government must take and express its opinions in a way which is essentially rational and liberal,