Cite as: 507 U. S. 761 (1993)
O'Connor, J., dissenting
The Board of Accountancy and State are hereby enjoined from enforcing that regulation as it is applied to CPAs who seek clients through in-person, direct, uninvited solicitation in the business context." App. 88.
Even if the majority is correct that a law satisfying Central Hudson cannot be applied to harmless commercial speech, and that Fane's proposed speech will indeed be harmless, these two premises do not justify an injunction against the enforcement of the antisolicitation rule to all CPA's.
The majority also relies on the fact that petitioners were enjoined only from enforcing the rule in the "business context." See ante, at 763, 771. Yet this narrowing of focus, without more, does not salvage the District Court's remedy. I fail to see why § 21A-24.002(2)(c) should be valid overall, but not "in the business context." Small businesses constitute the vast majority of business establishments in the United States, see U. S. Dept. of Commerce, Statistical Abstract of the United States 526 (1992). The drafters of Florida's rule reasonably could have believed that the average small businessman is no more sophisticated than the average individual who is wealthy enough to hire a CPA for his personal affairs.
In short, I do not see how the result reached by the majority is consistent with the validity of § 21A-24.002(2)(c). In failing to state otherwise, the majority implies that the rule itself satisfies Central Hudson, and I agree, but on that precise grounds I would reverse the judgment of the Court of Appeals.
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Last modified: October 4, 2007