United States v. American Library Association, Inc., 539 U.S. 194, 25 (2003)

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218

UNITED STATES v. AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSN., INC.

Breyer, J., concurring in judgment

to which the statute will tend to achieve that objective, whether there are other, less restrictive ways of achieving that objective, and ultimately whether the statute works speech-related harm that, in relation to that objective, is out of proportion. In Fox, supra, at 480, for example, the Court stated:

"What our decisions require is a 'fit' between the legislature's ends and the means chosen to accomplish those ends—a fit that is not necessarily perfect, but reasonable; that represents not necessarily the single best disposition but one whose scope is in proportion to the interest served; that employs not necessarily the least restrictive means but, as we have put it in the other contexts . . . , a means narrowly tailored to achieve the desired objective." (Internal quotation marks and citations omitted.)

Cf., e. g., Central Hudson Gas & Elec. Corp. v. Public Serv. Comm'n of N. Y., 447 U. S. 557, 564 (1980); United States v. O'Brien, 391 U. S. 367, 377 (1968); Clark v. Community for Creative Non-Violence, 468 U. S. 288, 293 (1984). This approach does not substitute a form of "balancing" for less flexible, though more speech-protective, forms of "strict scrutiny." Rather, it supplements the latter with an approach that is more flexible but nonetheless provides the legislature with less than ordinary leeway in light of the fact that constitutionally protected expression is at issue. Cf. Fox, supra, at 480-481; Virginia Bd. of Pharmacy v. Virginia Citizens Consumer Council, Inc., 425 U. S. 748, 769- 773 (1976).

The Act's restrictions satisfy these constitutional demands. The Act seeks to restrict access to obscenity, child pornography, and, in respect to access by minors, material that is comparably harmful. These objectives are "legitimate," and indeed often "compelling." See, e. g., Miller v. California, 413 U. S. 15, 18 (1973) (interest in prohibiting access to

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