Hill v. Colorado, 530 U.S. 703, 31 (2000)

Page:   Index   Previous  24  25  26  27  28  29  30  31  32  33  34  35  36  37  38  Next

Cite as: 530 U. S. 703 (2000)

Opinion of the Court

Petitioners proffer hypertechnical theories as to what the statute covers, such as whether an outstretched arm constitutes "approaching." 40 And while "[t]here is little doubt that imagination can conjure up hypothetical cases in which the meaning of these terms will be in nice question," American Communications Assn. v. Douds, 339 U. S. 382, 412 (1950), because we are "[c]ondemned to the use of words, we can never expect mathematical certainty from our language," Grayned v. City of Rockford, 408 U. S. 104, 110 (1972). For these reasons, we rejected similar vagueness challenges to the injunctions at issue in Schenck, 519 U. S., at 383, and Madsen, 512 U. S., at 775-776. We thus conclude that "it is clear what the ordinance as a whole prohibits." Grayned, 408 U. S., at 110. More importantly, speculation about possible vagueness in hypothetical situations not before the Court will not support a facial attack on a statute when it is surely valid "in the vast majority of its intended applications," United States v. Raines, 362 U. S. 17, 23 (1960).

For the same reason, we are similarly unpersuaded by the suggestion that § 18-9-122(3) fails to give adequate guidance to law enforcement authorities. Indeed, it seems to us that one of the section's virtues is the specificity of the definitions of the zones described in the statute. "As always, enforcement requires the exercise of some degree of police judgment," Grayned, 408 U. S., at 114, and the degree of judgment involved here is acceptable.

VII

Finally, petitioners argue that § 18-9-122(3)'s consent requirement is invalid because it imposes an unconstitutional "prior restraint" on speech. We rejected this argument previously in Schenck, 519 U. S., at 374, n. 6, and Madsen, 512 U. S., at 764, n. 2. Moreover, the restrictions in this case raise an even lesser prior restraint concern than those at

40 Brief for Petitioners 48.

733

Page:   Index   Previous  24  25  26  27  28  29  30  31  32  33  34  35  36  37  38  Next

Last modified: October 4, 2007