Corporations largely stay quiet ahead of delicate Supreme Court rulings
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The nation continues to be on edge before some upcoming Supreme Court rulings, especially following the leak of a draft decision in May to overturn Roe v. Wade. No one really knows the exact date that a ruling will come down, but today and tomorrow are marked as "opinion issuance days" on the high court's calendar. The secrecy offers some benefits to justices by making protests outside the Supreme Court more difficult to organize, while rulings are less likely to impact the stock market if the case is financial in nature.
Snapshot: More than a dozen opinions will need to be issued before the court departs for its traditional summer break, which usually happens by late June or early July. The court also has a history of announcing its most important ruling of the term last, which might center on Roe or other controversial decisions surrounding religious freedoms, gun rights and asylum-seeking migrants. PR experts are divided on how businesses should respond to the latest happenings and the CEOs that listen to them are taking differing approaches as well.
Many companies have so far been quiet on the draft ruling, like Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN), Citi (C), Mastercard (MA), Microsoft (MSFT), Netflix (NFLX) and Starbucks (SBUX), which have instead chose to offer their U.S.-based employees travel reimbursements for out-of-state abortions. The messaging is intended to show support without touching the hot topic, though a handful of firms are urging them to publicly take a stand. "Given what is at stake, business leaders need to make their voices heard and act to protect the health and well-being of our employees. That means protecting reproductive rights," Levi Strauss & Co. (LEVI) declared, while similar statements were made at Match Group (MTCH) and Yelp (YELP).
Go deeper: There aren't too many companies that have publicly supported the draft opinion and many PR experts caution that it is best when Corporate America steers clear of divisive political issues (at least as much as they can). Most businesses have taken this approach, especially with the "Don't Say Gay" tussle between Disney (DIS) and Florida's legislature remaining fresh in the minds of corporations nationwide. "There is no upside in speaking out alone on this," added Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, professor and senior associate dean of the Yale School of Management. "Nobody wants to have 40% of the country mad at them."