Section 1:
“Every contract, combination in the form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce among the several States, or with foreign nations, is declared to be illegal.”

Section 2:
“Every person who shall monopolize, or attempt to monopolize, or combine or conspire with any other person or persons, to monopolize any part of the trade or commerce among the several States, or with foreign nations, shall be deemed guilty of a felony .”

The Clayton Anti-Trust Act of 1914 extended its scope to these activities:

price discrimination between different purchasers, if such discrimination tends to create a monopoly
exclusive dealing agreements

tying arrangements

mergers and acquisitions that substantially reduce market competition.

Comment: Oddly enough, buyers of good and services seem free to form clubs, associations or other cartels to pool their consumer power without interference from such laws.

The Constitution (and the individual protections accorded to people under it when the Bill of Rights was incorporated as the first 10 Amendments) only protects infringements do to “state action” – not infringements from private entities. So you need to show that the NAR is a quasi-govermental agency (maybe if required to join in order to sell real estate here, that would be enough) that is infringing on your 1st Amendment rights.

Otherwise, you’re looking at a civil rights lawsuit, not a constitutional challenge.

Most people realize this in an informal way – like the fact that the school prayer debate only centers around public schools, not Sacred Heart for instance.

The Supreme Court’s affirming of a conviction for disturbing the peace based upon “fighting words” directed to a police officer has never been replicated since the original 1942 fighting words doctrine was announced in Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire.

In that infamous speech case, Walter Chaplinsky, a Jehovah’s Witness, proselytizing on the street in Rochester, N.H., denounced organized religion as a “racket.” When Chaplinsky would not moderate his verbal attack, and when the crowd got angry and restive, a police officer took Chaplinsky toward the police station (but did not yet arrest him). During this trip, Chaplinsky accused the city marshal of being “a goddamned racketeer” and “a damned Fascist,” and went on to charge that “the whole government of Rochester are Fascists or agents of Fascists.”

For this, Chaplinsky was arrested and charged under a statute prohibiting anyone from addressing “any offensive, derisive or annoying word to any other person who is lawfully in any street or other public place, nor call[ing] him by any offensive or derisive name.”

The then President of the Watchtower Society, Judge Rutherford, and the Society’s Legal Counsel, testified before the Supreme Court that Chaplinsky spoke the truth, and was therefore, as a truth teller, entitled to First Amendment Protection.

The Court rejected this argument. Conclusion: Telling Truth to racetteers and Fascists (and the whole muncipial government) gets you time in jail.

During the Vietnam Era, the State of New Hapshire jailed one of Jehovah’s Witnesses for applying masking tape over the words on the car license plate of that State, “Live Free or Die.” So you see my point.

Chris-
As a realtor (not a member here in Greenwich, but married into a family that is), as well as married to an attorney…very frankly you have done nothing incorrect. In fact, you present one of the ONLY voices of reason in this crazy place. I do not even look at a house without logging on to see what you have written about it. The loss of your voice would truly be a catastrophic event in the Greenwich real estate world. At least for buyers…but we are all to be kept in the dark about all issues, right? Just hand over the money!

Have a wonderful vacation, enjoy the weather, and try not to even think about us here waiting for you to return!