184
Opinion of the Court
related: Each raises a relevant question that may not be dispositive to the First Amendment inquiry, but the answer to which may inform a judgment concerning the other three. Partly because of these intricacies, petitioners as well as certain judges, scholars, and amici curiae have advocated repudiation of the Central Hudson standard and implementation of a more straightforward and stringent test for assessing the validity of governmental restrictions on commercial speech.3 As the opinions in 44 Liquormart demonstrate, reasonable judges may disagree about the merits of such proposals. It is, however, an established part of our constitutional jurisprudence that we do not ordinarily reach out to make novel or unnecessarily broad pronouncements on constitutional issues when a case can be fully resolved on a narrower ground. See United States v. Raines, 362 U. S. 17, 21 (1960). In this case, there is no need to break new ground. Central Hudson, as applied in our more recent commercial speech cases, provides an adequate basis for decision.
IV
All parties to this case agree that the messages petitioners wish to broadcast constitute commercial speech, and that these broadcasts would satisfy the first part of the Central Hudson test: Their content is not misleading and concerns lawful activities, i. e., private casino gambling in Louisiana and Mississippi. As well, the proposed commercial messages would convey information—whether taken favorably or unfavorably by the audience—about an activity that is the subject of intense public debate in many communities. In addition, petitioners' broadcasts presumably would dissemi-3 See, e. g., Pet. for Cert. 23; Brief for Petitioners 10; Reply Brief for Petitioners 18-20; 44 Liquormart, Inc. v. Rhode Island, 517 U. S. 484, 526-528 (1996) (Thomas, J., concurring); Kozinski & Banner, Who's Afraid of Commercial Speech?, 76 Va. L. Rev. 627 (1990); Brief for Association of National Advertisers, Inc., as Amicus Curiae 3-4; Brief for American Advertising Federation as Amicus Curiae 2.
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