Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/boundvolumes/524bv.pdf
Page Number: 666.0

524US2

Unit: $U95

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Cite as: 524 U. S. 569 (1998)

621

Souter, J., dissenting

The Government takes a different tack, arguing that over-
breadth analysis is out of place in this case because the “pros-
pect for ‘chilling’ expressive conduct,” which forms the basis
for the overbreadth doctrine, see, e. g., Massachusetts v.
Oakes, 491 U. S. 576, 584 (1989) (plurality opinion of O(cid:146)Con-
nor, J.), “is not present here.” Brief for Petitioners 20–21,
n. 5. But that is simply wrong. We have explained before
that the prospect of a denial of government funding neces-
sarily carries with it the potential to “chil[l] . . . individual
thought and expression.” Rosenberger, 515 U. S., at 835.
In the world of NEA funding, this is so because the makers
or exhibitors of potentially controversial art will either trim
their work to avoid anything likely to offend, or refrain from
seeking NEA funding altogether. Either way, to whatever
extent NEA eligibility deﬁnes a national mainstream, the
proviso will tend to create a timid esthetic. And either way,
the proviso’s viewpoint discrimination will “chill the expres-
sive activity of [persons] not before the court.” Forsyth
County, supra, at 129. See App. 22–24 (declaration of Char-
lotte Murphy, Executive Director of respondent NAAO) (re-
counting how some NAAO members have not applied for
NEA grants for fear that their work would be found indecent
or disrespectful, while others have applied but were “chilled
in their applications and in the scope of their projects” by
Indeed, because NEA
the decency and respect provision).
grants are often matched by funds from private donors, the
constraining impact of § 954(d)(1) is signiﬁcantly magniﬁed:

“[T]he chilling effect caused by [the NEA’s viewpoint-
based selection criteria] is exacerbated by the practical
realities of funding in the artistic community. Plainly
stated, the NEA occupies a dominant and inﬂuential role
in the ﬁnancial affairs of the art world in the United

however, fair reading of the text and attention to case law foreclose reli-
ance on any, let alone all, of these arguments.