Cite as: 539 U. S. 654 (2003)
Stevens, J., concurring
"form[ed] part of a public dialogue on a matter of public concern within the core area of expression protected by the First Amendment." Id., at 79a. The California Court of Appeal also rejected respondent's argument that it was error for the trial court to deny him leave to amend, reasoning that there was "no reasonable possibility" that the complaint could be amended to allege facts that would justify any restrictions on what was—in the court's view—Nike's "non-commercial speech." Ibid.
On appeal, the California Supreme Court reversed and remanded for further proceedings. The court held that "[b]ecause the messages in question were directed by a commercial speaker to a commercial audience, and because they made representations of fact about the speaker's own business operations for the purpose of promoting sales of its products, . . . [the] messages are commercial speech." 27 Cal. 4th 939, 946, 45 P. 3d 243, 247 (2002). However, the court emphasized that the suit "is still at a preliminary stage, and that whether any false representations were made is a disputed issue that has yet to be resolved." Ibid.
We granted certiorari to decide two questions: (1) whether a corporation participating in a public debate may "be subjected to liability for factual inaccuracies on the theory that its statements are 'commercial speech' because they might affect consumers' opinions about the business as a good corporate citizen and thereby affect their purchasing decisions"; and (2) even assuming the California Supreme Court properly characterized such statements as commercial speech, whether the "First Amendment, as applied to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment, permit[s] subjecting speakers to the legal regime approved by that court in the decision below." Pet. for Cert. i. Today, however, the Court dismisses the writ of certiorari as improvidently granted.
In my judgment, the Court's decision to dismiss the writ of certiorari is supported by three independently sufficient
657
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