Cite as: 535 U. S. 564 (2002)
Opinion of Thomas, J.
literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors." 47 U. S. C. § 231(e)(6).
These additional two restrictions substantially limit the amount of material covered by the statute. Material appeals to the prurient interest, for instance, only if it is in some sense erotic. Cf. Erznoznik v. Jacksonville, 422 U. S. 205, 213, and n. 10 (1975).9 Of even more significance, however, is COPA's exclusion of material with serious value for minors. See 47 U. S. C. § 231(e)(6)(C). In Reno, we emphasized that the serious value "requirement is particularly important because, unlike the 'patently offensive' and 'prurient interest' criteria, it is not judged by contemporary community standards." 521 U. S., at 873 (citing Pope v. Illinois, 481 U. S. 497, 500 (1987)). This is because "the value of [a] work [does not] vary from community to community based on the degree of local acceptance it has won." Ibid. Rather, the relevant question is "whether a reasonable person would find . . . value in the material, taken as a whole." Id., at 501. Thus, the serious value requirement "allows appellate courts to impose some limitations and regularity on the definition by setting, as a matter of law, a national floor for socially redeeming value." Reno, supra, at 873 (emphasis added), a safeguard nowhere present in the CDA.10
9 Justice Stevens argues that the "prurient interest" prong does not "substantially narrow the category of images covered" by COPA because "[a]rguably every depiction of nudity—partial or full—is in some sense erotic with respect to minors," post, at 607-608 (dissenting opinion) (emphasis in original). We do not agree. For example, we have great difficulty understanding how pictures of a war victim's wounded nude body could reasonably be described under the vast majority of circumstances as erotic, especially when evaluated from the perspective of minors. See Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary 422 (1991) (defining erotic as "of, devoted to, or tending to arouse sexual love or desire").
10 Justice Stevens contends that COPA's serious value prong only marginally limits the sweep of the statute because it does not protect all material with serious value but just those works with serious value for minors. See post, at 608. His dissenting opinion, however, does not refer to any evidence supporting this counterintuitive assertion, and there
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