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Opinion of the Court
deny the petition for rehearing en banc, over the dissent of three judges. See 220 F. 3d 1113 (2000).
While the Ninth Circuit found the CPPA invalid on its face, four other Courts of Appeals have sustained it. See United States v. Fox, 248 F. 3d 394 (CA5 2001); United States v. Mento, 231 F. 3d 912 (CA4 2000); United States v. Acheson, 195 F. 3d 645 (CA11 1999); United States v. Hilton, 167 F. 3d 61 (CA1), cert. denied, 528 U. S. 844 (1999). We granted certiorari. 531 U. S. 1124 (2001).
II
The First Amendment commands, "Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech." The government may violate this mandate in many ways, e. g., Rosenberger v. Rector and Visitors of Univ. of Va., 515 U. S. 819 (1995); Keller v. State Bar of Cal., 496 U. S. 1 (1990), but a law imposing criminal penalties on protected speech is a stark example of speech suppression. The CPPA's penalties are indeed severe. A first offender may be imprisoned for 15 years. § 2252A(b)(1). A repeat offender faces a prison sentence of not less than 5 years and not more than 30 years in prison. Ibid. While even minor punishments can chill protected speech, see Wooley v. Maynard, 430 U. S. 705 (1977), this case provides a textbook example of why we permit facial challenges to statutes that burden expression. With these severe penalties in force, few legitimate movie producers or book publishers, or few other speakers in any capacity, would risk distributing images in or near the uncertain reach of this law. The Constitution gives signifi-cant protection from overbroad laws that chill speech within the First Amendment's vast and privileged sphere. Under this principle, the CPPA is unconstitutional on its face if it prohibits a substantial amount of protected expression. See Broadrick v. Oklahoma, 413 U. S. 601, 612 (1973).
The sexual abuse of a child is a most serious crime and an act repugnant to the moral instincts of a decent people. In
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