Cite as: 517 U. S. 484 (1996)
Opinion of Thomas, J.
In other decisions, however, the Court has appeared to accept the legitimacy of laws that suppress information in order to manipulate the choices of consumers—so long as the government could show that the manipulation was in fact successful. Central Hudson Gas & Elec. Corp. v. Public Serv. Comm'n of N. Y., 447 U. S. 557 (1980), was the first decision to clearly embrace this position, although the Court applied a very strict overbreadth analysis to strike down the advertising ban at issue.3 In two other decisions, Posadas de Puerto Rico Associates v. Tourism Co. of P. R., 478 U. S. 328 (1986), and United States v. Edge Broadcasting Co., 509 U. S. 418 (1993), the Court simply presumed that advertising of a product or service leads to increased consumption; since, as in Central Hudson, the Court saw nothing impermissible in the government's suppressing information in order to discourage consumption, it upheld the advertising restrictions
(Blackmun, J., for two Justices, concurring in part and dissenting in part); Central Hudson Gas & Elec. Corp. v. Public Serv. Comm'n of N. Y., 447 U. S. 557, 561-562 (1980); id., at 566, n. 9; id., at 575 (Blackmun, J., joined by Brennan, J., concurring in judgment); id., at 581 (Stevens, J., also joined by Brennan, J., concurring in judgment); Bolger v. Youngs Drug Products Corp., 463 U. S. 60, 79 (1983) (Rehnquist, J., for two Justices, concurring in judgment); Zauderer v. Office of Disciplinary Counsel of Supreme Court of Ohio, 471 U. S. 626, 646 (1985); Posadas de Puerto Rico Associates v. Tourism Co. of P. R., 478 U. S. 328, 350-351, 358 (1986) (Brennan, J., for three Justices, dissenting); Cincinnati v. Discovery Network, Inc., 507 U. S. 410, 421-422, n. 17 (1993); id., at 432 (Blackmun, J., concurring); Edenfield v. Fane, 507 U. S. 761, 767, 770 (1993); United States v. Edge Broadcasting Co., 509 U. S. 418, 437-439, and nn. 1, 3, 4 (1993) (Stevens, J., for two Justices, dissenting); Ibanez v. Florida Dept. of Business and Professional Regulation, Bd. of Accountancy, 512 U. S. 136, 142-143 (1994); Rubin v. Coors Brewing Co., 514 U. S. 476, 481-482 (1995); id., at 492-493, 494 (Stevens, J., concurring in judgment); Florida Bar v. Went For It, Inc., 515 U. S. 618, 639-640, 644-645 (1995) (Kennedy, J., for four Justices, dissenting).
3 The Court found that although the total effect of the advertising ban would be to decrease consumption, the advertising ban impermissibly extended to some advertising that itself might not increase consumption. Central Hudson, supra, at 569-571.
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