Cite as: 524 U. S. 569 (1998)
Souter, J., dissenting
mental rule of the First Amendment that viewpoint discrimination in the exercise of public authority over expressive activity is unconstitutional. The Court's conclusions that the proviso is not viewpoint based, that it is not a regulation, and that the NEA may permissibly engage in viewpoint-based discrimination, are all patently mistaken. Nor may the question raised be answered in the Government's favor on the assumption that some constitutional applications of the statute are enough to satisfy the demand of facial constitutionality, leaving claims of the proviso's obvious invalidity to be dealt with later in response to challenges of specific applications of the discriminatory standards. This assumption is irreconcilable with our longstanding and sensible doctrine of facial overbreadth, applicable to claims brought under the First Amendment's speech clause. I respectfully dissent.
I
"If there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that the government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable." Texas v. Johnson, 491 U. S. 397, 414 (1989). "[A]bove all else, the First Amendment means that government has no power to restrict expression because of its message [or] its ideas," Police Dept. of Chicago v. Mosley, 408 U. S. 92, 95 (1972), which is to say that "[t]he principle of viewpoint neutrality . . . underlies the First Amendment," Bose Corp. v. Consumers Union of United States, Inc., 466 U. S. 485, 505 (1984). Because this principle applies not only to affirmative suppression of speech, but also to disqualification for government favors, Congress is generally not permitted to pivot discrimination against otherwise protected speech on the offensiveness or unacceptability of the views it expresses. See, e. g., Rosenberger v. Rector and Visitors of Univ. of Va., 515 U. S. 819 (1995) (public university's student activities funds may not be disbursed on viewpoint-based terms); Lamb's Chapel v. Center Moriches
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