There are reports that the NFL is monitoring Arizona’s SB 1062, which gives private businesses the right to refuse service to anyone if providing service would violate their religious beliefs. Phoenix is scheduled to host next year’s Super Bowl, but the league stated that such a bill would be inconsistent with the league’s (stated and purported) policies of tolerance, inclusiveness, and non-discrimination for all sorts of reasons, including sexual orientation. …But isn’t this corporate speech? Isn’t the NFL, a powerful entity, engaging in First Amendment expressive activities by using its economic influence to affect public policy? Isn’t this exactly what critics of the “corporations have First Amendment rights” meme object to? (The NFL is not a corporation but an unincorporated association of associations, but I doubt that matters much for most arguments). Liberals and progressives and supporters of LGBT rights–the very groups most likely to be critical of Citizens United, are now quite pleased with, and supportive of, the NFL’s stance and the (hoped-for) effect it could have on this horrific piece of public policy. But other than the valence of the political position at issue, how is this different than a large company trying to affect environmental policy or elections (which, in turn, will define policy)?