430
Breyer, J., dissenting
At the same time, those features of the program that led Wileman's dissenters to find its program disproportionately restrictive are absent here. Wileman's statutory scheme covered various different agricultural commodities and imposed a patchwork of geographically based limitations while "prohibit[ing] orders of national scope"—all for no apparent reason. 521 U. S., at 499 (Souter, J., dissenting). The law at issue here, however, applies only to mushrooms, and says explicitly that "[a]ny" mushroom order "shall be national in scope." 7 U. S. C. § 6103(a). Cf. Wileman, supra, at 493 (Souter, J., dissenting) ("[I]f the Government were to attack these problems across an interstate market for a given agricultural commodity or group of them, the substantiality of the national interest would not be open to apparent question . . .").
Nor has the Government relied upon "[m]ere speculation" about the effect of the advertising. Wileman, supra, at 501 (Souter, J., dissenting). Rather, it has provided empirical evidence demonstrating the program's effect. See Food Marketing & Economics Group, Mushroom Council Program Effectiveness Review, 1999, p. 6 (Feb. 2000), lodging for United States (available in Clerk of Court's case file) (finding that "for every million dollars spent by the Mushroom Council . . . the growth rate [of mushroom sales] increases by 2.1%"). In consequence, whatever harm the program may cause First Amendment interests is proportionate. Cf. Bartnicki v. Vopper, 532 U. S. 514, 535 (2001) (Breyer, J., concurring).
The Court's decision converts "a question of economic policy for Congress and the Executive" into a "First Amendment issue," contrary to Wileman. 521 U. S., at 468 (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). Nor can its holding find support in basic First Amendment principles.
For these reasons, I dissent.
[Appendix to opinion of Breyer, J., follows this page.]
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