Simon Tam sought federal trademark registration for THE SLANTS, a band name he chose to reclaim a racial slur. The Patent and Trademark Office denied registration under the Lanham Act’s disparagement clause. The Supreme Court held that the clause violated the First Amendment. The Court reasoned that trademarks are private speech, not government speech, and that the clause discriminated against viewpoints by denying protection to marks expressing ideas the Government considered disparaging. The Court rejected the argument that trademark registration transformed the mark into government speech and held that the clause could not survive even the applicable level of constitutional review. It affirmed the Federal Circuit’s judgment invalidating the disparagement clause. Separate opinions agreed in the judgment but differed over the scope of the First Amendment analysis.