Cite as: 524 U. S. 569 (1998)
Souter, J., dissenting
constitutional reading of the statute. See Edward J. DeBar-tolo Corp. v. Florida Gulf Coast Building & Constr. Trades Council, 485 U. S. 568, 575 (1988).
A
The Court says, first, that because the phrase "general standards of decency and respect for the diverse beliefs and values of the American public" is imprecise and capable of multiple interpretations, "the considerations that the provision introduces, by their nature, do not engender the kind of directed viewpoint discrimination that would prompt this Court to invalidate a statute on its face." Ante, at 583. Unquestioned case law, however, is clearly to the contrary.
"Sexual expression which is indecent but not obscene is protected by the First Amendment," Sable Communications of Cal., Inc. v. FCC, 492 U. S. 115, 126 (1989), and except when protecting children from exposure to indecent material, see FCC v. Pacifica Foundation, 438 U. S. 726 (1978), the First Amendment has never been read to allow the government to rove around imposing general standards of decency, see, e. g., Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union, 521 U. S. 844 (1997) (striking down on its face a statute that regulated "indecency" on the Internet). Because "the normal definition of 'indecent' . . . refers to nonconformance with accepted standards of morality," FCC v. Pacifica Foundation, supra, at 740, restrictions turning on decency, especially those couched in terms of "general standards of decency," are quintessentially viewpoint based: they require discrimination on the basis of conformity with mainstream mores. The Government's contrary suggestion that the NEA's decency standards restrict only the "form, mode, or style" of artistic expression, not the underlying viewpoint or message, Brief for Petitioners 39-41, may be a tempting abstraction (and one not lacking in support, cf. Bolger v. Youngs Drug Products Corp., 463 U. S. 60, 83-84 (1983) (Stevens, J., concurring in judgment)). But here it suffices to realize that "form, mode, or style" are not subject to ab-
605
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