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524US2

Unit: $U95

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NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR ARTS v. FINLEY

Scalia, J., concurring in judgment

entirely free to e´pater les bourgeois; 2 they are merely de-
prived of the additional satisfaction of having the bourgeoisie
taxed to pay for it.
It is preposterous to equate the denial
of taxpayer subsidy with measures “ ‘ “aimed at the suppres-
sion of dangerous ideas.” ’ ” Regan v. Taxation with Rep-
resentation of Wash., 461 U. S. 540, 550 (1983) (emphasis
added) (quoting Cammarano v. United States, 358 U. S. 498,
513 (1959), in turn quoting Speiser v. Randall, 357 U. S. 513,
“The reason that denial of participation in a
519 (1958)).
tax exemption or other subsidy scheme does not necessarily
‘infringe’ a fundamental right is that—unlike direct restric-
tion or prohibition—such a denial does not, as a general rule,
have any signiﬁcant coercive effect.” Arkansas Writers’
Project, Inc. v. Ragland, 481 U. S. 221, 237 (1987) (Scalia,
J., dissenting).

One might contend, I suppose, that a threat of rejection
by the only available source of free money would constitute
coercion and hence “abridgment” within the meaning of the
First Amendment. Cf. Norwood v. Harrison, 413 U. S. 455,
465 (1973).
I would not agree with such a contention, which
would make the NEA the mandatory patron of all art too

2 Which they do quite well. The oeuvres d’art for which the four indi-
vidual plaintiffs in this case sought funding have been described as follows:
“Finley’s controversial show, ‘We Keep Our Victims Ready,’ contains
three segments.
In the second segment, Finley visually recounts a sexual
assault by stripping to the waist and smearing chocolate on her breasts
and by using profanity to describe the assault. Holly Hughes’ monologue
‘World Without End’ is a somewhat graphic recollection of the artist’s real-
John
ization of her lesbianism and reminiscence of her mother’s sexuality.
Fleck, in his stage performance ‘Blessed Are All the Little Fishes,’ con-
fronts alcoholism and Catholicism. During the course of the performance,
Fleck appears dressed as a mermaid, urinates on the stage and creates
an altar out of a toilet bowl by putting a photograph of Jesus Christ on
the lid. Tim Miller derives his performance ‘Some Golden States’ from
childhood experiences, from his life as a homosexual, and from the con-
stant threat of AIDS. Miller uses vegetables in his performances to rep-
resent sexual symbols.” Note, 48 Wash. & Lee L. Rev. 1545, 1546, n. 2
(1991) (citations omitted).