Hill v. Colorado, 530 U.S. 703, 33 (2000)

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

Souter, J., concurring

the statute does not authorize the pedestrian to affect any other activity at any other location or relating to any other person. These restrictions thus do not constitute an unlawful prior restraint.

* * *

The judgment of the Colorado Supreme Court is affirmed.

It is so ordered.

Justice Souter, with whom Justice O'Connor, Justice Ginsburg, and Justice Breyer join, concurring.

I join the opinion of the Court and add this further word. The key to determining whether Colo. Rev. Stat. § 18-9- 122(3) (1999) makes a content-based distinction between varieties of speech lies in understanding that content-based discriminations are subject to strict scrutiny because they place the weight of government behind the disparagement or suppression of some messages, whether or not with the effect of approving or promoting others. United States v. Playboy Entertainment Group, Inc., 529 U. S. 803, 812 (2000); R. A. V. v. St. Paul, 505 U. S. 377, 382 (1992); cf. Police Dept. of Chicago v. Mosley, 408 U. S. 92, 95-96 (1972). Thus the government is held to a very exacting and rarely satisfied standard when it disfavors the discussion of particular subjects, Simon & Schuster, Inc. v. Members of N. Y. State Crime Victims Bd., 502 U. S. 105, 116 (1991), or particular viewpoints within a given subject matter, Carey v. Brown, 447 U. S. 455, 461-463 (1980) (citing Chicago, supra, at 95-96); cf. National Endowment for Arts v. Finley, 524 U. S. 569, 601-602 (1998) (Souter, J., dissenting).

Concern about employing the power of the State to suppress discussion of a subject or a point of view is not, however, raised in the same way when a law addresses not the content of speech but the circumstances of its delivery. The right to express unpopular views does not necessarily immunize a speaker from liability for resorting to otherwise im-

735

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