United States v. American Library Association, Inc., 539 U.S. 194, 21 (2003)

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214

UNITED STATES v. AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSN., INC.

Kennedy, J., concurring in judgment

Because public libraries' use of Internet filtering software does not violate their patrons' First Amendment rights, CIPA does not induce libraries to violate the Constitution, and is a valid exercise of Congress' spending power. Nor does CIPA impose an unconstitutional condition on public libraries. Therefore, the judgment of the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania is

Reversed.

Justice Kennedy, concurring in the judgment.

If, on the request of an adult user, a librarian will unblock filtered material or disable the Internet software filter without significant delay, there is little to this case. The Government represents this is indeed the fact. Tr. of Oral Arg. 11; ante, at 209 (plurality opinion).

The District Court, in its "Preliminary Statement," did say that "the unblocking may take days, and may be unavailable, especially in branch libraries, which are often less well staffed than main libraries." 201 F. Supp. 2d 401, 411 (ED Pa. 2002). See also post, at 232-233 (Souter, J., dissenting). That statement, however, does not appear to be a specific finding. It was not the basis for the District Court's decision in any event, as the court assumed that "the disabling provisions permit public libraries to allow a patron access to any speech that is constitutionally protected with respect to that patron." 201 F. Supp. 2d, at 485-486.

exacts the fee at issue for the sole purpose of facilitating the free and open exchange of ideas"); Rosenberger, supra, at 830, 834 ("The [Student Activities Fund] is a forum"; "[T]he University . . . expends funds to encourage a diversity of views from private speakers"). Indeed, this very distinction led us to state in Southworth that that case did not implicate our unconstitutional conditions jurisprudence. 529 U. S., at 229 ("The case we decide here . . . does not raise the issue of the government's right . . . to use its own funds to advance a particular message"). As we have stated above, supra, at 206-208, public libraries do not install Internet terminals to provide a forum for Web publishers to express themselves, but rather to provide patrons with online material of requisite and appropriate quality.

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