438
Rehnquist, C. J., dissenting
march through Jewish neighborhood); Cohen v. California, 403 U. S. 15 (1971) (profane antiwar slogan). The very fact that government remains free, in my view, to ensure that commercial speech is not deceptive or coercive, to prohibit commercial speech proposing illegal activities, and to impose reasonable time, place, or manner restrictions on commercial speech greatly reduces the risk that protecting truthful commercial speech will dilute the level of First Amendment protection for speech generally.
I am heartened by the Court's decision today to reject the extreme extension of Central Hudson's logic, and I hope the Court ultimately will come to abandon Central Hudson's analysis entirely in favor of one that affords full protection for truthful, noncoercive commercial speech about lawful activities.
Chief Justice Rehnquist, with whom Justice White and Justice Thomas join, dissenting.
Concerned about the safety and esthetics of its streets and sidewalks, the city of Cincinnati decided to do something about the proliferation of newsracks on its street corners. Pursuant to an existing ordinance prohibiting the distribution of "commercial handbills" on public property, the city ordered respondents Discovery Network, Inc., and Harmon Publishing Company, Inc., to remove their newsracks from its sidewalks within 30 days. Respondents publish and distribute free of charge magazines that consist principally of commercial speech. Together their publications account for 62 of the 1,500-2,000 newsracks that clutter Cincinnati's street corners. Because the city chose to address its news-rack problem by banning only those newsracks that disseminate commercial handbills, rather than regulating all newsracks (including those that disseminate traditional newspapers) alike, the Court holds that its actions violate the First Amendment to the Constitution. I believe this result is inconsistent with prior precedent.
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