Cite as: 515 U. S. 753 (1995)
Stevens, J., dissenting
well—without violating the Free Speech Clause.11 Moreover, our "public forum" cases do not foreclose public entities from enforcing prohibitions against all unattended displays in public parks, or possibly even limiting the use of such displays to the communication of noncontroversial messages.12
Such a limitation would not inhibit any of the traditional forms of expression that have been given full constitutional protection in public fora.
The State's general power to restrict the types of unattended displays does not alone suffice to decide this case, because Ohio did not profess to be exercising any such authority. Instead, the Capitol Square Review Board denied a permit for the cross because it believed the Establishment Clause required as much, and we cannot know whether the
11 The plurality incorrectly assumes that a decision to exclude a category of speech from an inappropriate forum must rest on a judgment about the value of that speech. See ante, at 766-767. Yet, we have upheld the exclusion of all political signs from public vehicles, Lehman v. Shaker Heights, 418 U. S. 298 (1974), though political expression is at the heart of the protection afforded by the First Amendment. McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Comm'n, 514 U. S. 334, 346-347 (1995). A view that "private prayers," ante, at 767, are most appropriate in private settings is neither novel nor disrespectful to religious speech.
12 Several scholars have commented on the malleability of our public forum precedents.
"As [an] overview of the cases strongly suggests, whether or not a given place is deemed a 'public forum' is ordinarily less significant than the nature of the speech restriction—despite the Court's rhetoric. Indeed, even the rhetoric at times reveals as much.
. . . . . "Beyond confusing the issues, an excessive focus on the public character of some forums, coupled with inadequate attention to the precise details of the restrictions on expression, can leave speech inadequately protected in some cases, while unduly hampering state and local authorities in others." L. Tribe, American Constitutional Law 992-993 (2d ed. 1988) (footnotes omitted).
See also Farber & Nowak, The Misleading Nature of Public Forum Analysis: Content and Context in First Amendment Adjudication, 70 Va. L. Rev. 1219, 1221-1222 (1984).
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