Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/boundvolumes/529bv.pdf
Page Number: 910

529US3

Unit: $U60

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Cite as: 529 U. S. 803 (2000)

835

Breyer, J., dissenting

true-but-inadequate as the conclusion that Al Capone did not
It is not only children who
accurately report his income.
can be protected from occasional uninvited exposure to what
appellee calls “adult-oriented programming”; we can all be.
Section 505 covers only businesses that engage in the “com-
mercial exploitation of erotica solely for the sake of their
prurient appeal,” Ginzburg, 383 U. S., at 466—which, as
Playboy’s own advertisements make plain, is what “adult”
In most contexts, contemporary
programming is all about.
American society has chosen to permit such commercial ex-
ploitation. That may be a wise democratic choice, if only
because of the difﬁculty in many contexts (though not this
It is, however, not
one) of identifying the panderer to sex.
a course compelled by the Constitution. Since the Govern-
ment is entirely free to block these transmissions, it may
certainly take the less drastic step of dictating how, and dur-
ing what times, they may occur.

Justice Breyer, with whom The Chief Justice, Jus-

tice O’Connor, and Justice Scalia join, dissenting.

This case involves the application, not the elucidation, of
First Amendment principles. We apply established First
Amendment law to a statute that focuses upon the broadcast
of “sexually explicit adult programming” on AdulTVision,
Adam & Eve, Spice, and Playboy cable channels. These
channels are, as the statute requires, “primarily dedicated to
sexually-oriented programming.” Telecommunications Act
of 1996, Pub. L. 104–104, § 505(a), 110 Stat. 136, 47 U. S. C.
§ 561(a) (1994 ed., Supp. III). Section 505 prohibits cable op-
erators from sending these adult channels into the homes of
viewers who do not request them.
In practice, it requires a
signiﬁcant number of cable operators either to upgrade their
scrambling technology or to avoid broadcasting these chan-
nels during daylight and evening hours (6 a.m. to 10 p.m.).
We must decide whether the First Amendment permits Con-
gress to enact this statute.