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Page Number: 7.0

4 

PACKINGHAM v. NORTH CAROLINA 

Opinion of the Court 

Ibid.    The  

unrelated  to  achieving  its  purported  goal.” 
North  Carolina  Supreme  Court  reversed,  concluding  that
the  law  is  “constitutional  in  all  respects.”    368  N. C.,  at 
381,  777  S. E.  2d,  at  741.    Among  other  things,  the  court
explained that the law is “carefully tailored . . . to prohibit
registered  sex  offenders  from  accessing  only  those  Web 
sites  that  allow  them  the  opportunity  to  gather  infor-
mation  about  minors.”  Id.,  at  389,  777  S. E.  2d,  at  747. 
The  court  also  held  that  the  law  leaves  open  adequate 
alternative  means  of  communication  because  it  permits
petitioner  to  gain  access  to  websites  that  the  court  be-
lieved  perform  the  “same  or  similar”  functions  as  social 
media,  such  as  the  Paula  Deen  Network  and  the  website 
for  the  local  NBC  affiliate.  Id.,  at  390,  777  S. E.  2d,  at 
747.  Two  justices  dissented.  They  stated  that  the  law
impermissibly  “creates  a  criminal  prohibition  of  alarming 
breadth and extends well beyond the evils the State seeks 
to  combat.”  Id.,  at  401,  777  S. E.  2d,  at  754  (opinion  of 
Hudson,  J.)  (alteration,  citation,  and  internal  quotation
marks omitted). 

The  Court  granted  certiorari,  580  U. S.  ___  (2016),  and 

now reverses. 

II 
A fundamental principle of the First Amendment is that
all  persons  have  access  to  places  where  they  can  speak 
and listen, and then, after reflection, speak and listen once 
more.  The Court has sought to protect the right to speak 
in this spatial context.  A basic rule, for example, is that a
street or a park is a quintessential forum for the exercise 
of  First  Amendment  rights.  See  Ward  v.  Rock  Against 
Racism,  491  U. S.  781,  796  (1989).  Even  in  the  modern 
era, these places are still essential venues for public gath-
erings to celebrate some views, to protest others, or simply 
to learn and inquire.

While  in  the  past  there  may  have  been  difficulty  in