686
Opinion of O'Connor, J.
or written material within the terminals. 925 F. 2d 576 (CA2 1991). I would affirm both parts of that judgment.
I concur in the Court's opinion in No. 91-155 and agree that publicly owned airports are not public fora. Unlike public streets and parks, both of which our First Amendment jurisprudence has identified as "traditional public fora," airports do not count among their purposes the "free exchange of ideas," Cornelius v. NAACP Legal Defense & Ed. Fund, Inc., 473 U. S. 788, 800 (1985); they have not "by long tradition or by government fiat . . . been devoted to assembly and debate," Perry Ed. Assn. v. Perry Local Educators' Assn., 460 U. S. 37, 45 (1983); nor have they "time out of mind, . . . been used for purposes of . . . communicating thoughts between citizens, and discussing public questions," Hague v. Committee for Industrial Organization, 307 U. S. 496, 515 (1939). Although most airports do not ordinarily restrict public access, "[p]ublicly owned or operated property does not become a 'public forum' simply because members of the public are permitted to come and go at will." United States v. Grace, 461 U. S. 171, 177 (1983); see also Greer v. Spock, 424 U. S. 828, 836 (1976). "[W]hen government property is not dedicated to open communication the government may— without further justification—restrict use to those who participate in the forum's official business." Perry, supra, at 53. There is little doubt that airports are among those publicly owned facilities that could be closed to all except those who have legitimate business there. See Grace, supra, at 178. Public access to airports is thus not "inherent in the open nature of the locations," as it is for most streets and parks, but is rather a "matter of grace by government officials." United States v. Kokinda, 497 U. S. 720, 743 (1990) (Brennan, J., dissenting). I also agree with the Court that the Port Authority has not expressly opened its airports to the types of expression at issue here, see ante, at 680-681, and therefore has not created a "limited" or "designated" public forum relevant to this case.
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