The Chick-Fil-A concession controversies typically arise not because a city has awarded a contract to other firms on neutral grounds such as hours of service, but because some of the public decision makers have gone on the record with explicit assertions that they want CFA excluded from consideration because of the religious and political views of its owners.

It is occasionally suggested that politicos hold their tongues and work quietly behind the scenes to make sure contract specifications are such that a bidder like CFA will be sure to lose, whether or not revenue or consumer satisfaction is optimized along the way. (Concourse food courts often have five or six operators from which travelers can choose.) But frequently they refuse to take that course because they want public credit for having taken a stand popular among some constituents. And that puts them in defiance of the First Amendment norms outlined by the Court in Board of County Commissioners v. Umbehr.