Cite as: 507 U. S. 410 (1993)
Blackmun, J., concurring
For these reasons, Cincinnati's categorical ban on the distribution, via newsrack, of "commercial handbills" cannot be squared with the dictates of the First Amendment.
The judgment of the Court of Appeals is
Affirmed.
Justice Blackmun, concurring. I agree that Cincinnati's ban on commercial newsracks cannot withstand scrutiny under Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corp. v. Public Serv. Comm'n of N. Y., 447 U. S. 557 (1980), and Board of Trustees of State University of N. Y. v. Fox, 492 U. S. 469 (1989), and I therefore join the Court's opinion. I write separately because I continue to believe that the analysis set forth in Central Hudson and refined in Fox affords insufficient protection for truthful, noncoercive commercial speech concerning lawful activities. In Central Hudson, I expressed the view that "intermediate scrutiny is appropriate for a restraint on commercial speech designed to protect consumers from misleading or coercive speech, or a regulation related to the time, place, or manner of commercial speech," but not for a regulation that suppresses truthful commercial speech to serve some other government purpose. 447 U. S., at 573 (opinion concurring in judgment). The present case demonstrates that there is no reason to treat truthful commercial speech as a class that is less "valuable" than noncommercial speech. Respondents' publications, which respectively advertise the availability of residential properties and educational opportunities, are unquestionably "valuable" to those who choose to read them, and Cincinnati's ban on commercial newsracks should be subject to the same scrutiny we would apply to a regulation burdening noncommercial speech.
In Virginia State Bd. of Pharmacy v. Virginia Citizens Consumer Council, Inc., 425 U. S. 748 (1976), this Court held that commercial speech "which does 'no more than propose a commercial transaction' " is protected by the First Amendment, id., at 762, quoting Pittsburgh Press Co. v. Pittsburgh
431
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