Cite as: 539 U. S. 194 (2003)
Stevens, J., dissenting
speech. They are not designed to foster or transmit any particular governmental message.
Even if we were to construe the passage of CIPA as modifying the E-rate and LSTA programs such that they now convey a governmental message that no " 'visual depictions' that are 'obscene,' 'child pornography,' or in the case of minors, 'harmful to minors,' " 201 F. Supp. 2d, at 407, should be expressed or viewed, the use of filtering software does not promote that message. As described above, all filtering software erroneously blocks access to a substantial number of Web sites that contain constitutionally protected speech on a wide variety of topics. See id., at 446-447 (describing erroneous blocking of speech on churches and religious groups, on politics and government, on health issues, on education and careers, on sports, and on travel). Moreover, there are "frequent instances of underblocking," id., at 448, that is, instances in which filtering software did not prevent access to Web sites with depictions that fall within what CIPA seeks to block access to. In short, the message conveyed by the use of filtering software is not that all speech except that which is prohibited by CIPA is supported by the Government, but rather that all speech that gets through the software is supported by the Government. And the items that get through the software include some visual depictions that are obscene, some that are child pornography, and some that are harmful to minors, while at the same time the software blocks an enormous amount of speech that is not sexually explicit and certainly does not meet CIPA's definitions of prohibited content. As such, since the message conveyed is far from the message the Government purports to promote—indeed, the material permitted past the filtering software does not seem to have any coherent message—Rust is inapposite.
The plurality's reliance on National Endowment for Arts v. Finley, 524 U. S. 569 (1998), is also misplaced. That case involved a challenge to a statute setting forth the criteria
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