United States v. Playboy Entertainment Group, Inc., 529 U.S. 803, 29 (2000)

Page:   Index   Previous  22  23  24  25  26  27  28  29  30  31  32  33  34  35  36  Next

Cite as: 529 U. S. 803 (2000)

Scalia, J., dissenting

speech regulations under fairly strict categorical rules keeps the starch in the standards for those moments when the daily politics cries loudest for limiting what may be said"). Applying the First Amendment's exacting standards, the Court has correctly determined that § 505 cannot be upheld on the theory argued by the Government. Accordingly, I join the opinion of the Court.

Justice Scalia, dissenting.

I agree with the principal dissent in this case that § 505 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, Pub. L. 104-104, 110 Stat. 136, 47 U. S. C. § 561 (1994 ed., Supp. III), is supported by a compelling state interest and is narrowly tailored. I write separately to express my view that § 505 can be upheld in simpler fashion: by finding that it regulates the business of obscenity.

To be sure, § 505 and the Federal Communications Commission's implementing regulation, see 47 CFR § 76.227 (1999), purport to capture programming that is indecent rather than merely that which is obscene. And I will assume for purposes of this discussion (though it is a highly fanciful assumption) that none of the transmissions at issue independently crosses the boundary we have established for obscenity, see Miller v. California, 413 U. S. 15, 24 (1973), so that the individual programs themselves would enjoy First Amendment protection. In my view, however, that assumption does not put an end to the inquiry.

We have recognized that commercial entities which engage in "the sordid business of pandering" by "deliberately emphasiz[ing] the sexually provocative aspects of [their nonob-scene products], in order to catch the salaciously disposed," engage in constitutionally unprotected behavior. Ginzburg v. United States, 383 U. S. 463, 467, 472 (1966); see also FW/ PBS, Inc. v. Dallas, 493 U. S. 215, 257-258 (1990) (Scalia, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part); Pinkus v. United States, 436 U. S. 293, 303-304 (1978); Splawn v. California,

831

Page:   Index   Previous  22  23  24  25  26  27  28  29  30  31  32  33  34  35  36  Next

Last modified: October 4, 2007