596
Kennedy, J., concurring in judgment
desire to reach a national market; he may wish only to speak to his neighbors; nevertheless, if an eavesdropper in a more traditional, rural community chooses to listen in, there is nothing the publisher can do. As a practical matter, COPA makes the eavesdropper the arbiter of propriety on the Web. And it is no answer to say that the speaker should "take the simple step of utilizing a [different] medium." Ante, at 583 (principal opinion of Thomas, J.). "Our prior decisions have voiced particular concern with laws that foreclose an entire medium of expression . . . . [T]he danger they pose to the freedom of speech is readily apparent—by eliminating a common means of speaking, such measures can suppress too much speech." City of Ladue v. Gilleo, 512 U. S. 43, 55 (1994).
Justice Breyer would alleviate the problem of local variation in community standards by construing the statute to comprehend the "Nation's adult community taken as a whole," rather than the local community from which the jury is drawn. Ante, at 589 (opinion concurring in part and concurring in judgment); see also ante, at 586-589 (O'Connor, J., concurring in part and concurring in judgment). There is one statement in a House Committee Report to this effect, "reflecting," Justice Breyer writes, "what apparently was a uniform view within Congress." Ante, at 590. The statement, perhaps, reflects the view of a majority of one House committee, but there is no reason to believe that it reflects the view of a majority of the House of Representatives, let alone the "uniform view within Congress." Ibid.
In any event, we need not decide whether the statute invokes local or national community standards to conclude that vacatur and remand are in order. If the statute does incorporate some concept of national community standards, the actual standard applied is bound to vary by community nevertheless, as the Attorney General concedes. See ante, at 577 (principal opinion of Thomas, J.); Brief for Petitioner 39.
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