392
Opinion of Scalia, J.
demonstrated a likelihood of success on their claim under N. Y. Civ. Rights Law § 40-c." 799 F. Supp., at 1431. Subsequently, however, this Court's opinion in Bray v. Alexandria Women's Health Clinic, 506 U. S. 263, 269-273 (1993), held that claims of the sort at issue here do not constitute discrimination on the basis of sex under 42 U. S. C. § 1985(3). Since there is also, as far as I have been able to determine, no decision by any New York court saying that they constitute sex discrimination under § 40-c, there is no basis on which the District Court could have concluded (or this Court could affirm) that the chance of success on this claim was anything other than a long shot.2
The Court proceeds from there to make a much more significant point: An injunction on speech may be upheld even if not justified on the basis of the interests asserted by the plaintiff, as long as it serves "public safety." "[I]n assessing a First Amendment challenge, a court . . . inquires into the governmental interests that are protected by the injunction, which may include an interest in public safety and order. . . . Here, the District Court cited public safety as one of the interests justifying the injunction . . . . [T]he fact that 'threat to public safety' is not listed anywhere in respondents' complaint as a claim does not preclude a court from relying on the significant governmental interest in public safety in assessing petitioners' First Amendment argument." Ante, at 375-376.
This is a wonderful expansion of judicial power. Rather than courts' being limited to according relief justified by the
2 The Court contends that petitioners only raise the issue whether the § 40-c cause of action is "valid," and not the issue whether the District Court erred in concluding that the claim was "likely to succeed." Ante, at 375. The concept of an invalid claim that is likely to succeed is an interesting one, but there is no doubt that petitioners did not entertain it: They plainly challenged "[t]he district court's ruling that respondents were likely to prevail on their state antidiscrimination claim." Brief for Petitioners 32; see also id., at 15.
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