598
Kennedy, J., concurring in judgment
offensive material, however, was particularly problematic in light of that statute's unprecedented breadth and vagueness"); ante, at 578 ("The tremendous breadth of the CDA magnified the impact caused by differences in community standards across the country"). To explain the ways in which COPA is narrower than the CDA, Justice Thomas finds that he must construe sections of COPA elided by the Court of Appeals. Though I agree with the necessity for doing so, Justice Thomas' interpretation—undertaken without substantial arguments or briefing—is not altogether persuasive, and I would leave this task to the Court of Appeals in the first instance. As this case comes to us, once it is accepted that we cannot strike down the Act based merely on the phrase "contemporary community standards," we should go no further than to vacate and remand for a more comprehensive analysis of the Act.
Second, community standards may have different degrees of variation depending on the question posed to the community. Defining the scope of the Act, therefore, is not relevant merely to the absolute number of Web pages covered, as Justice Stevens suggests, post, at 609-610 (dissenting opinion); it is also relevant to the proportion of overbreadth, "judged in relation to the statute's plainly legitimate sweep," Broadrick, 413 U. S., at 615. Because this issue was "virtu-ally ignored by the parties and the amicus" in the Court of Appeals, 217 F. 3d, at 173, we have no information on the question. Instead, speculation meets speculation. On the one hand, the Court of Appeals found "no evidence to suggest that adults everywhere in America would share the same standards for determining what is harmful to minors." Id., at 178. On the other hand, Justice Thomas finds "no reason to believe that the practical effect of varying community standards under COPA . . . is significantly greater than the practical effect of varying community standards under federal obscenity statutes." Ante, at 583-584. When a key issue has "no evidence" on one side and "no reason to be-
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