Cite as: 505 U. S. 123 (1992)
Opinion of the Court
dissented, arguing that this Court's cases do not require that fees be nominal. Id., at 1493.
We granted certiorari to resolve a conflict among the Courts of Appeals concerning the constitutionality of charging a fee for a speaker in a public forum.8 502 U. S. 1023 (1991).
II
Respondent mounts a facial challenge to the Forsyth County ordinance. It is well established that in the area of freedom of expression an overbroad regulation may be subject to facial review and invalidation, even though its application in the case under consideration may be constitutionally unobjectionable. See, e. g., City Council of Los Angeles v. Taxpayers for Vincent, 466 U. S. 789, 798-799, and n. 15 (1984); Board of Airport Comm'rs of Los Angeles v. Jews for Jesus, Inc., 482 U. S. 569, 574 (1987). This exception from general standing rules is based on an appreciation that the very existence of some broadly written laws has the potential to chill the expressive activity of others not before the court. See, e. g., New York v. Ferber, 458 U. S. 747, 772 (1982); Brockett v. Spokane Arcades, Inc., 472 U. S. 491, 503 (1985). Thus, the Court has permitted a party to challenge an ordinance under the overbreadth doctrine in cases where every application creates an impermissible risk of suppression of ideas, such as an ordinance that delegates overly broad discretion to the decisionmaker, see Thornhill v. Ala-8 Compare the Eleventh Circuit's opinions in this litigation, 913 F. 2d 885, 891 (1990), and 934 F. 2d 1482, 1483 (1991), with Stonewall Union v. Columbus, 931 F. 2d 1130, 1136 (CA6) (permitting greater than nominal fees that are reasonably related to expenses incident to the preservation of public safety and order), cert. denied, 502 U. S. 899 (1991); Eastern Conn. Citizens Action Group v. Powers, 723 F. 2d 1050, 1056 (CA2 1983) (licensing fees permissible only to offset expenses associated with processing applications for public property); Fernandes v. Limmer, 663 F. 2d 619, 632-633 (CA5 1981) ($6 flat fee for permit was unconstitutional), cert. dism'd, 458 U. S. 1124 (1982).
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