Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/497/720/
Timestamp: 2019-04-26 05:44:15+00:00

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(a) Although solicitation is a recognized form of speech protected by the First Amendment, the Government may regulate such activity on its property to an extent determined by the nature of the relevant forum. Speech activity on governmental property that has been traditionally open to the public for expressive activity or has been expressly dedicated by the Government to speech activity is subject to strict scrutiny. Perry Education Assn. v. Perry Local Educators' Assn., 460 U. S. 37, 45. However, where the property is not a traditional public forum and the Government has not dedicated its property to First Amendment activity, such regulation is examined only for reasonableness. Id. at 460 U. S. 46. Pp. 497 U. S. 725-727.
(b) Section 232.1(h)(1) must be analyzed under the standards applicable to nonpublic fora: it must be reasonable and "not an effort to suppress expression merely because public officials oppose the speaker's view." Ibid. The postal sidewalk is not a traditional public forum. The fact that the sidewalk resembles the municipal sidewalk across the parking lot from the post office is irrelevant to forum analysis. See Greer v. Spock, 424 U. S. 828. The sidewalk was constructed solely to provide for the passage of individuals engaged in postal business, not as a public passageway. Nor has the Postal Service expressly dedicated its sidewalk to any expressive activity. Postal property has only been dedicated to the posting of public notices on designated bulletin boards. A practice of allowing individuals and groups to leaflet, speak, and picket on postal premises and a regulation prohibiting disruptive conduct do not add up to such dedication. Even conceding that the forum has been dedicated to some First Amendment uses, and thus is not a purely nonpublic forum, regulation of the reserved nonpublic uses would still require application of the reasonableness test. Pp. 497 U. S. 727-730.
(c) It is reasonable for the Postal Service to prohibit solicitation where it has determined that the intrusion creates significant interference with Congress' mandate to ensure the most effective and efficient distribution of the mails. The categorical ban is based on the Service's long, real-world experience with solicitation, which has shown that, because of continual demands from a wide variety of groups, administering a program of permits and approvals had distracted postal facility managers from their primary jobs. Whether or not the Service permits other forms of speech, it is not unreasonable for it to prohibit solicitation on the ground that it inherently disrupts business by impeding the normal flow of traffic. See Heffron v. ISKCON, 452 U. S. 640, 452 U. S. 653. Confrontation by a person asking for money disrupts passage and is more intrusive and intimidating than an encounter with a person giving out information. Even if more narrowly tailored regulations could be promulgated, the Service is only required to promulgate reasonable regulations, not the most reasonable or the only reasonable regulation possible. Clearly, the regulation does not discriminate on the basis of content or viewpoint. The Service's concern about losing customers because of the potentially unpleasant situation created by solicitation per se does not reveal an effort to discourage one viewpoint and advance another. Pp. 497 U. S. 731-737.
468 U. S. 288, 468 U. S. 293. The regulation expressly permits respondents and all others to engage in political speech on topics of their choice and to distribute literature soliciting support, including money contributions, provided there is no in-person solicitation for immediate payments on the premises. The Government has a significant interest in protecting the integrity of the purposes to which it has dedicated its property, that is, facilitating its customers' postal transactions. Given the Postal Service's past experience with expressive activity on its property, its judgment that in-person solicitation should be treated differently from alternative forms of solicitation and expression should not be rejected. 497 U. S. 738-739.
O'CONNOR, J., announced the judgment of the Court and delivered an opinion, in which REHNQUIST, C.J., and WHITE and SCALIA, JJ., joined. KENNEDY, J., filed an opinion concurring in the judgment, post, p. 497 U. S. 737. BRENNAN, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which MARSHALL and STEVENS, JJ., joined, and in which BLACKMUN, J., joined as to Part I, post, p. 497 U. S. 740.
"[T]he Bowie post office is a freestanding building, with its own sidewalk and parking lot. It is located on a major highway, Route 197. A sidewalk runs along the edge of the highway, separating the post office property from the street. To enter the post office, cars enter a driveway that traverses the public sidewalk and enter a parking lot that surrounds the post office building. Another sidewalk runs adjacent to the building itself, separating the parking lot from the building. Postal patrons must use the sidewalk to enter the post office. The sidewalk belongs to the post office and is used for no other purpose."
Respondents' petition for rehearing and a suggestion for rehearing en banc were denied. Because the decision below conflicts with other decisions by the Courts of Appeals, see United States v. Belsky, 799 F.2d 1485 (CA11 1986); United States v. Bjerke, 796 F.2d 643 (CA3 1986), we granted certiorari. 493 U.S. 807 (1989).
Solicitation is a recognized form of speech protected by the First Amendment. See Schaumburg v. Citizens for a Better Environment, 444 U. S. 620, 444 U. S. 629 (1980); Riley v. National Federation of Blind of N.C., Inc., 487 U. S. 781, 487 U. S. 788-789 (1988). Under our First Amendment jurisprudence, we must determine the level of scrutiny that applies to the regulation of protected speech at issue.
"the governmental function operating . . . [is] not the power to regulate or license, as lawmaker, . . . but, rather, as proprietor, to manage [its] internal operation[s]. . . ."
"Here, we have no open spaces, no meeting hall, park, street corner, or other public thoroughfare. Instead, the city is engaged in commerce. . . . The car card space, although incidental to the provision of public transportation, is a part of the commercial venture. In much the same way that a newspaper or periodical, or even a radio or television station, need not accept every proffer of advertising from the general public, a city transit system has discretion to develop and make reasonable choices concerning the type of advertising that may be displayed in its vehicles."
Id. at 418 U. S. 303.
"Users [of the transit system] would be subjected to the blare of political propaganda. There could be lurking doubts about favoritism, and sticky administrative problems might arise in parceling out limited space to eager politicians. In these circumstances, the managerial decision to limit car card space to innocuous and less controversial commercial and service oriented advertising does not rise to the dignity of a First Amendment violation. Were we to hold to the contrary, display cases in public hospitals, libraries, office buildings, military compounds, and other public facilities immediately would become Hyde Parks open to every would-be pamphleteer and politician. This the Constitution does not require."
"the Court has adopted a forum analysis as a means of determining when the Government's interest in limiting the use of its property to its intended purpose outweighs the interest of those wishing to use the property for other purposes. Accordingly, the extent to which the Government can control access depends on the nature of the relevant forum."
examined under strict scrutiny. Ibid. But regulation of speech activity where the Government has not dedicated its property to First Amendment activity is examined only for reasonableness. Id. at 460 U. S. 46.
Respondents contend that, although the sidewalk is on postal service property, because it is not distinguishable from the municipal sidewalk across the parking lot from the post office's entrance, it must be a traditional public forum and therefore subject to strict scrutiny. This argument is unpersuasive. The mere physical characteristics of the property cannot dictate forum analysis. If they did, then Greer v. Spock, 424 U. S. 828 (1976), would have been decided differently. In that case, we held that, even though a military base permitted free civilian access to certain unrestricted areas, the base was a nonpublic forum. The presence of sidewalks and streets within the base did not require a finding that it was a public forum. Id. at 424 U. S. 835-837.
"continually open, often uncongested, and constitute[d] not only a necessary conduit in the daily affairs of a locality's citizens but also a place where people [could] enjoy the open air or the company of friends and neighbors in a relaxed environment,"
id. at 452 U. S. 651, the postal sidewalk was constructed solely to provide for the passage of individuals engaged in postal business. The sidewalk leading to the entry of the post office is not the traditional public forum sidewalk referred to in Perry.
"The sidewalks comprising the outer boundaries of the Court grounds are indistinguishable from any other sidewalks in Washington, D.C., and we can discern no reason why they should be treated any differently. Sidewalks, of course, are among those areas of public property that traditionally have been held open to the public for expressive activities, and are clearly within those areas of public property that may be considered, generally without further inquiry, to be public forum property. In this respect, the present case differs from Greer v. Spock. . . . In Greer, the streets and sidewalks at issue were located within an enclosed military reservation, Fort Dix, N.J., and were thus separated from the streets and sidewalks of any municipality. That is not true of the sidewalks surrounding the Court. There is no separation, no fence, and no indication whatever to persons stepping from the street to the curb and sidewalks that serve as the perimeter of the Court grounds that they have entered some special type of enclave."
Id. at 461 U. S. 179-180 (footnote omitted).
of a publicly owned sidewalk is critical to determining whether such a sidewalk constitutes a public forum.
"No entrance to the Fort is manned by a sentry or blocked by any barrier. The reservation is crossed by 10 paved roads, including a major state highway. Civilians without any prior authorization are regular visitors to unrestricted areas of the Fort or regular pass through it, either by foot or by auto, at all times of the day and night. Civilians are welcome to visit soldiers, and are welcome to visit the Fort as tourists. They eat at the base and freely talk with recruits in unrestricted areas. Public service buses, carrying both civilian and military passengers, regularly serve the base. A 1970 traffic survey indicated that 66,000 civilian and military vehicles per day entered and exited the Fort. Indeed, the reservation is so open as to create a danger of muggings after payday and a problem with prostitution."
424 U.S. at 424 U. S. 851 (dissenting opinion).
"[t]he notion that federal military reservations, like municipal streets and parks, have traditionally served as a place for free public assembly and communication of thoughts by private citizens is . . . historically and constitutionally false."
Id. at 424 U. S. 838. It is the latter inquiry that has animated our traditional public forum analysis, and that we apply today. Postal entryways, like the walkways at issue in Greer, may be open to the public, but that fact alone does not establish that such areas must be treated as traditional public fora under the First Amendment.
"[t]he government does not create a public forum by . . . permitting limited discourse, but only by intentionally opening a nontraditional forum for public discourse."
Cornelius, supra, 473 U.S. at 473 U. S. 802 (emphasis added); see also Perry, supra, 460 U.S. at 460 U. S. 47 ("[S]elective access does not transform government property into a public forum"). Even conceding that the forum here has been dedicated to some First Amendment uses, and thus is not a purely non-public forum, under Perry, regulation of the reserved nonpublic uses would still require application of the reasonableness test. See Cornelius, supra, 473 U.S. at 473 U. S. 804-806.
"[c]ontrol over access to a nonpublic forum can be based on subject matter and speaker identity, so long as the distinctions drawn are reasonable in light of the purpose served by the forum and are viewpoint neutral."
Cornelius, supra, 473 U.S. at 473 U. S. 806.
"The Government's decision to restrict access to a nonpublic forum need only be reasonable; it need not be the most reasonable or the only reasonable limitation."
473 U.S. at 473 U. S. 808.
"[s]oliciting [of] subscriptions, canvassing for the sale of any article, or making collections . . . in buildings operated by the Post Office Department, or on the grounds or sidewalks within the lot lines"
of postal premises. Postal Service Manual, Facilities Transmittal Letter 8, Buildings Operation: Buildings Operated by the Post Office Department § 622.8 (July 1958). The Service prohibited all forms of solicitation until 1963, at which time it created an exception to its categorical ban on solicitation to enable certain "established national health, welfare, and veterans' organizations" to conduct fund drives "at or within" postal premises with the local postmaster's permission, and at his discretion. See Facilities Transmittal Letter 53, Buildings Operation: Buildings Operated by the Post Office Department § 622.8 (July 1963). The general prohibition on solicitation was enlarged in 1972 to include "[s]oliciting alms and contributions or collecting private debts on postal premises." 37 Fed.Reg. 24347 (1972), codified at 39 CFR 232.6(h)(1) (1973).
"request use of lobby space for annual or special fund-raising campaigns, providing they do not interfere with the transaction of postal business or require expenditures by the Postal Services or the use of its employees or equipment. "
"Postal Service lacks the resources to enforce such regulation in the tens of thousands of post offices throughout the nation. In addition, such regulation would be, of necessity, so restrictive as to be tantamount to prohibition, and so complex as to be unadministrable."
Heffron, supra, 452 U.S. at 452 U. S. 650-651. The purpose of the forum in this case is to accomplish the most efficient and effective postal delivery system. See 39 U.S.C. § 403(a); § 403(b)(1); H.R.Rep. No. 91-1104, pp. 1, 5, 11-12, 17, 19 (1970) U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News 1970, p. 3649. Congress has made clear that "it wished.the Postal Service to be run more like a business than had its predecessor, the Post Office Department." Franchise Tax Board of California v. United States Postal Service, 467 U. S. 512, 467 U. S. 519-520, and n. 13 (1984). Congress has directed the Service to become a self-sustaining service industry and to "seek out the needs and desires of its present and potential customers -- the American public" and to provide services in a manner "responsive" to the "needs of the American people." H.R.Rep. No. 91-1104, supra, at 19-20. The Postal Service has been entrusted with this mission at a time when the mail service market is becoming much more competitive. It is with this mission in mind that we must examine the regulation at issue.
"Since the act of soliciting alms or contributions usually has as its objective an immediate act of charity, it has the potentiality for evoking highly personal and subjective reactions. Reflection usually is not encouraged, and the person solicited often must make a hasty decision whether to share his resources with an unfamiliar organization while under the eager gaze of the solicitor."
The dissent avoids determining whether the sidewalk is a public forum because it believes the regulation, 39 CFR § 232.1(h) (1989), does not pass muster even under the reasonableness standard applicable to nonpublic fora. In concluding that § 232.1(h) is unreasonable, the dissent relies heavily on the fact that the Service permits other types of potentially disruptive speech on a case-by-case basis. The dissent's criticism in this regard seems to be that solicitation is not receiving the same treatment by the Postal Service that other forms of speech receive. See post at 497 U. S. 760 (criticizing "inconsistent treatment"). That claim, however, is more properly addressed under the equal protection component of the Fifth Amendment. In any event, it is anomalous that the Service's allowance of some avenues of speech would be relied upon as evidence that it is impermissibly suppressing other speech. If anything, the Service's generous accommodation of some types of speech testifies to its willingness to provide as broad a forum as possible, consistent with its postal mission. The dissent would create, in the name of the First Amendment, a disincentive for the Government to dedicate its property to any speech activities at all. In the end, its approach permits it to sidestep the single issue before us: Is the Government's prohibition of solicitation on postal sidewalks unreasonable?
"The distribution of literature does not require that the recipient stop in order to receive the message the speaker wishes to convey; instead, the recipient is free to read the message at a later time. . . . [S]ales and the collection of solicited funds not only require the fair-goer to stop, but also engender additional confusion . . . because they involve acts of exchanging articles for money, fumbling for and dropping money, making change, etc."
in this Court to uphold a regulation under reasonableness review.
"to regain space for the effective display of postal materials and the efficient transaction of postal business, eliminate safety hazards, reduce maintenance costs, and improve the appearance of exterior and public-use areas on postal premises."
43 Fed. Reg. 38824 (1978); see 39 CFR § 232.1(o) (1989). In short, the Postal Service has prohibited the use of its property and resources where the intrusion creates significant interference with Congress' mandate to ensure the most effective and efficient distribution of the mails. This is hardly unreasonable.
only required to adopt reasonable regulations, not "the most reasonable or the only reasonable" regulation possible. Cornelius, 473 U.S. at 473 U. S. 808.
The dissent also would strike the regulation on the ground that the Postal Service enacted it because solicitation "would be likely to produce hostile reactions and to cause people to avoid post offices." 43 Fed.Reg. 38824 (1978). The dissent reads into the Postal Service's realistic concern with losing postal business because of the uncomfortable atmosphere created by aggressive solicitation an intent to suppress certain views. See post at 497 U. S. 754. But the Postal Service has never intimated that it intends to suppress the views of any "disfavored or unpopular political advocacy group." Ibid. It is the inherent nature of solicitation itself, a content-neutral ground, that the Service justifiably relies upon when it concludes that solicitation is disruptive of its business. The regulation is premised on the Service's long experience, on the fact that solicitation is inherently more disruptive than the other speech activities it permits, and on the Service's empirically based conclusion that a case-by-case approach to regulation of solicitation is unworkable.
"[n]othing suggests the Postal Service intended to discourage one viewpoint and advance another. . . . By excluding all . . . groups from engaging in [solicitation], the Postal Service is not granting to 'one side of a debatable public question . . . a monopoly in expressing its views.'"
Monterey County Democratic Central Committee v. United States Postal Service, 812 F.2d 1194, 1198-1199 (CA9 1987) (citation omitted). The Service's concern about losing customers because of the potentially unpleasant situation created by solicitation per se does not reveal "an effort to suppress expression merely because public officials oppose the speaker's view." Perry, 460 U.S. at 460 U. S. 45-46.
It is clear that this regulation passes constitutional muster under the Court's usual test for reasonableness. See Lehman, 418 U.S. at 418 U. S. 303; Cornelius, 473 U.S. at 473 U. S. 808. Accordingly, we conclude, as have the Courts of Appeals for the Third and Eleventh Circuits, that the Postal Service's regulation of solicitation is reasonable as applied. See United States v. Belsky, 799 F.2d 1485 (CA11 1986); United States v. Bjerke, 796 F.2d 643 (CA3 1986).
case. See, e.g., Cornelius v. NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., 473 U. S. 788, 473 U. S. 819-820 (1985) (BLACKMUN, J., dissenting). While it is proper to weigh the need to maintain the dignity and purpose of a public building, see United States v. Grace, 461 U. S. 171, 461 U. S. 182 (1983), or to impose special security requirements, see Adderley v. Florida, 385 U. S. 39 (1966), other factors may point to the conclusion that the Government must permit wider access to the forum than it has otherwise intended. Viewed in this light, the demand for recognition of heightened First Amendment protection has more force here than in those instances where the Government created a nontraditional forum to accommodate speech for a special purpose, as was thought true with teachers' mail boxes in Perry Education Assn. v. Perry Local Educators' Assn., 460 U. S. 37 (1983), or the Combined Federal Campaign in Cornelius, supra.
It is not necessary, however, to make a precise determination whether this sidewalk and others like it are public or nonpublic forums; in my view, the postal regulation at issue meets the traditional standards we have applied to time, place, and manner restrictions of protected expression. See Clark v. Community for Creative Non-Violence, 468 U. S. 288, 468 U. S. 293 (1984).
"[E]ven in a public forum the government may impose reasonable restrictions on the time, place, or manner of protected speech, provided the restrictions 'are justified without reference to the content of the regulated speech, that they are narrowly tailored to serve a significant governmental interest, and that they leave open ample alternative channels for communication of the information.'"
political speech on topics of their choice and to distribute literature soliciting support, including money contributions, provided there is no in-person solicitation for payments on the premises. See Brief for United States 39.
Just as the government has a significant interest in preventing "visual blight" in its cities, Members of City Council of Los Angeles v. Taxpayers for Vincent, 466 U. S. 789, 466 U. S. 810 (1984), in "maintaining [public] parks . . . in an attractive and intact condition," Clark, supra, 468 U.S. at 468 U. S. 296, and in "avoiding congestion and maintaining the orderly movement" of persons using a public forum, Heffron v. International Society for Krishna Consciousness, Inc., 452 U. S. 640, 452 U. S. 652 (1981), so the Government here has a significant interest in protecting the integrity of the purposes to which it has dedicated the property, that is, facilitating its customers' postal transactions. Given the Postal Service's past experience with expressive activity on its property, I cannot reject its judgment that in-person solicitation deserves different treatment from alternative forms of solicitation and expression. Cf. Heffron, supra, at 452 U. S. 665 (BLACKMUN, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part). The same judgment has been made for the classic public forums in our Nation's capital. The solicitation of money is banned in the District of Columbia on the Mall and other parks under the control of the National Park Service. See 36 CFR § 7.96(h) (1989).
The Postal Service regulation, narrow in its purpose, design, and effect, does not discriminate on the basis of content or viewpoint, is narrowly drawn to serve an important governmental interest, and permits respondents to engage in a broad range of activity to express their views, including the solicitation of financial support. For these reasons, I agree with Justice O'CONNOR that the Postal Service regulation is consistent with the protections of the First Amendment, and concur in the judgment of the Court.
The plurality begins its analysis with the determination that the sidewalk in question is not a "public forum." See ante at 497 U. S. 727-728. Our decisions in recent years have identified three categories of forums in which expression might take place on government property: (1) traditional, "quintessential public forums" -- "places which, by long tradition or by government fiat, have been devoted to assembly and debate,"
Today's decision confirms my doubts about the manner in which we have been using public forum analysis. Although the plurality recognizes that public sidewalks are, as a general matter, public forums, see ante at 497 U. S. 728, the plurality insists, with logic that is both strained and formalistic, that the specific sidewalk at issue is not a public forum. This conclusion is unsupportable. "[S]treets, sidewalks, and parks, are considered, without more, to be public forums.'"
"Traditional public forum property occupies a special position in terms of First Amendment protection, and will not lose its historically recognized character for the reason that it abuts government property that has been dedicated to a use other than as a forum for public expression."
United States v. Grace, supra, 461 U.S. at 461 U. S. 177. It is only common sense that a public sidewalk adjacent to a public building to which citizens are freely admitted is a natural location for speech to occur, whether that speech is critical of government generally, aimed at the particular governmental agency housed in the building, or focused upon issues unrelated to the government.
No doctrinal pigeonholing, complex formula, or multipart test can obscure this evident conclusion.
The plurality maintains that the postal sidewalk is not a traditional public forum because it "was constructed solely to provide for the passage of individuals engaged in postal business" and "leads only from the parking area to the front door of the post office." Ante at 497 U. S. 727. This reasoning is flawed.
right to express his views in an orderly fashion."
The wooden distinctions drawn today by the plurality have no basis in our prior cases, and, furthermore, are in apparent contradiction to the plurality's admission that "[t]he mere physical characteristics of the property cannot dictate forum analysis." Ante at 497 U. S. 727. It is irrelevant that the sidewalk at issue may have been constructed only to provide access to the Bowie Post Office. Public sidewalks, parks, and streets have been reserved for public use as forums for speech even though government has not constructed them for expressive purposes. Parks are usually constructed to beautify a city and to provide opportunities for recreation, rather than to afford a forum for soapbox orators or leafleteers; streets are built to facilitate transportation, not to enable protesters to conduct marches; and sidewalks are created with pedestrians in mind, not solicitors. Hence, why the sidewalk was built is not salient.
"'time out of mind,' public streets and sidewalks have been used for public assembly and debate, the hallmarks of a traditional public forum."
"our decisions identifying public streets and sidewalks as traditional public fora are not accidental invocations of a 'cliche,' but recognition that '[w]herever the title of the streets and parks may rest, they have immemorially been held in trust for the use of the public.' No particularized inquiry into the precise nature of a specific street is necessary; all public streets are held in the public trust, and are properly considered traditional public fora."
Id. at 487 U. S. 480-481 (emphasis added, citations omitted). Justice O'CONNOR further wrote that "a public street does not lose its status as a traditional public forum simply because it runs through a residential neighborhood" or because it is "physical[ly] narro[w]." Id. at 487 U. S. 480.
"[i]t ill-behooves us to undertake too intricate a task of designation, holding this sidewalk public and that one not. . . . [S]uch labeling loses sight of the fact that most sidewalks are designed as outdoor public thoroughfares, and that citizens should not be left to wonder at which ones they will be permitted to speak and which ones not."
The cases that formed the foundation of public forum doctrine did not engage in the type of fact-specific inquiry undertaken by the plurality today. In Cox v. Louisiana, 379 U. S. 536, 379 U. S. 553-558 (1965), for example, we reversed a civil rights leader's conviction for obstructing a public passage after he organized a protest on a municipal sidewalk across the street from the Baton Rouge courthouse. We did not consider whether the sidewalk was constructed to facilitate protests (an unlikely possibility), or whether the sidewalk was a "public thoroughfare," rather than one providing access to only a limited number of locations. Similarly, in Edwards v. South Carolina, 372 U. S. 229 (1963), we reversed the convictions of civil rights demonstrators who had assembled on the grounds of the South Carolina State House, "an area of two city blocks open to the general public," id. at 372 U. S. 230, without inquiring whether the State had dedicated the statehouse grounds for such expressive activities. In Shuttlesworth v. Birmingham, 394 U. S. 147, 394 U. S. 152 (1969), we did not suggest that our constitutional analysis hinged on whether the sidewalk march had occurred on Main Street or on a dead-end street leading only to a single public building. See also Carey v. Brown, 447 U. S. 455, 447 U. S. 460 (1980); Grayned v. Rockford, 408 U. S. 104, 408 U. S. 120-121 (1972); Police Department of Chicago v. Mosley, 408 U. S. 92, 408 U. S. 96 (1972).
"the demand for recognition of heightened First Amendment protection has more force here than in those instances where the Government created a nontraditional forum to accommodate speech for a special purpose, as was thought true with teachers' mail boxes in Perry Education Assn. [supra], or the Combined Federal Campaign in Cornelius."
environments where a public right of access nevertheless exists, we have applied a higher level of scrutiny to restrictions on speech than the plurality does today. See Cohen v. California, 403 U. S. 15, 403 U. S. 22 (1971); Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, 393 U. S. 503, 393 U. S. 509 (1969).
Even if I did not believe that the postal sidewalk is a "traditional" public forum within the meaning of our cases, I would find that it is a "limited-purpose" forum from which respondents may not be excluded absent a showing of a compelling interest to which any exclusion is narrowly tailored. We have recognized that, even where a forum would not exist but for the decision of government to create it, the government's power to enforce exclusions from the forum is narrowly circumscribed if the government permits a wide range of expression to occur. See Perry Education Assn., 460 U.S. at 460 U. S. 45; see also Widmar v. Vincent, 454 U. S. 263, 454 U. S. 267-268 (1981); City of Madison Joint School District v. Wisconsin Employment Relations Comm'n, 429 U. S. 167, 175-176 (1976); Southeastern Promotions, Ltd. v. Conrad, 420 U.S.
546, 420 U. S. 555-558 (1975). In a limited-purpose forum, "the Government must permit wider access to the forum than it has otherwise intended." Ante at 497 U. S. 738 (KENNEDY, J., concurring in judgment).
"the Service's generous accommodation of some types of speech testifies to its willingness to provide as broad a forum as possible, consistent with its postal mission."
"[s]oliciting alms and contributions, campaigning for election to any public office, collecting private debts, commercial soliciting and vending, and displaying or distributing commercial advertising on postal premises."
39 CFR § 232.1(h)(1) (1989). The Government thus invites labor picketing, soapbox oratory, distributing literature, holding political rallies, playing music, circulating petitions, or any other form of speech not specifically mentioned in the regulation.
"a practice of allowing some speech activities on postal property do[es] not add up to the dedication of postal property to speech activities,"
ante at 497 U. S. 730, and concludes that the Postal Service may close off postal premises to solicitors even though it has opened the forum to virtually every other type of speech. The plurality's conclusion is unsound.
"The Court makes it virtually impossible to prove that a forum restricted to a particular class of speakers is a limited public forum. If the Government does not create a limited public forum unless it intends to provide an 'open forum' for expressive activity, and if the exclusion of some speakers is evidence that the Government did not intend to create such a forum, . . . no speaker challenging denial of access will ever be able to prove that the forum is a limited public forum. The very fact that the Government denied access to the speaker indicates that the Government did not intend to provide an open forum for expressive activity, and, under the Court's analysis, that fact alone would demonstrate that the forum is not a limited public forum."
Cornelius, 473 U.S. at 473 U. S. 825 (dissenting opinion).
The plurality does not, and cannot, explain in the instant case why the postal regulation establishes a policy of "selective access,'" ante at 497 U. S. 730 (citation omitted), rather than constituting a separate restriction on speech in a limited public forum. Nor can the plurality explain how its reasoning is consistent with our past cases. In Carey v. Brown, 447 U. S. 455, 447 U. S. 460 (1980), Grayned v. Rockford, 408 U.S. at 408 U. S. 107, and Police Department of Chicago v. Mosley, 408 U.S.
"may also enforce regulations of the time, place, and manner of expression which are content-neutral, are narrowly tailored to serve a significant government interest, and leave open ample alternative channels of communication."
"The record in this case reveals no evidence of a significant governmental interest best served by the ban on solicitation in a public forum. There is no evidence that Kokinda and Pearl's solicitation obstructed or impeded postal customers. [Respondents] were not charged with obstructing post office entrances, disturbing postal employees in the performance of their duties, or impeding the public in the transaction of postal business. There is nothing to suggest that they harassed, threatened, or physically detained unwilling listeners."
"prohibits all solicitation anywhere on postal service property. It sweeps an entire category of expressive activity off a public forum solely in the interest of administrative convenience. It does not attempt to limit nondisruptive solicitation to a time, place, and manner consistent with post office operations; and it does not require that evidence of disruption be shown."
because the proffered governmental interest is unrelated to the communicative impact of expression. See ante at 497 U. S. 736 (discussing "[t]he Service's concern about losing customers because of the potentially unpleasant situation created by solicitation"). This reasoning is flawed. Any restriction on speech the application of which turns on the substance of the speech is content-based, no matter what the Government's interest may be. See Boos, 485 U.S. at 485 U. S. 335-338 (BRENNAN, J., concurring in part and concurring in judgment). In any event, the government interest in this case is related to the suppression of expression, because the evil at which the postal regulation is aimed -- by the admission of both the Postal Service, see 43 Fed.Reg. 38824 (1978), and the plurality, see ante at 497 U. S. 736 -- is the danger that solicitors might annoy postal customers and discourage them from patronizing postal offices. But solicitors do not purportedly irk customers by speaking unusually loudly or uncomfortabiy close to their subjects. Rather, the fear is that solicitation is bothersome because of its content: The Post Office is concerned that being asked for money may be embarrassing or annoying to some people, particularly when the speaker is a member of a disfavored or unpopular political advocacy group. For example, the Government makes much of the 40 or 50 customer complaints received at the Bowie Post Office while respondents solicited the public. See Brief for United States 35-36, and n. 11. But the record does not demonstrate that the complaints related to any difficulty in obtaining access to the post office.
"For all we know, the complaints may have been generated by the hearers' disagreement with the message of the National Democratic Policy Committee or their disapproval of the appearance or affiliation of the speakers."
497 U. S. 408-410 (1989). Speech is not subject to regulation "simply because it may embarrass others or coerce them into action.'" Hustler Magazine, Inc. v. Falwell, 485 U. S. 46, 485 U. S. 55 (1988), quoting NAACP v. Claiborne Hardware Co., 458 U. S. 886, 458 U. S. 910 (1982).
of protected expression" demands heightened scrutiny and evidence supporting the need for complete exclusion). [Footnote 9] I find that the Postal Service has not met this burden, and that the postal regulation prohibiting an entire category of expression based on a broad assessment of its likely effects cannot qualify as a valid time, place, or manner regulation because such a prohibition "burden[s] substantially more speech than is necessary to further the government's legitimate interests." Ward v. Rock Against Racism, 491 U. S. 781, 491 U. S. 799 (1989). "A complete ban can be narrowly tailored, but only if each activity within the proscription's scope is an appropriately targeted evil.'" Id. at 491 U. S. 800, quoting Frisby, 487 U.S. at 487 U. S. 485. In other contexts, we have stressed that problems associated with solicitation must be addressed through "measures less intrusive than a direct prohibition on solicitation." Schaumburg v. Citizens for a Better Environment, 444 U. S. 620, 444 U. S. 637 (1980); see also Riley v. National Federation of Blind of North Carolina, Inc., 487 U. S. 781, 487 U. S. 795 (1988). Thus, in Heffron v. International Society for Krishna Consciousness, Inc., 452 U. S. 640 (1981), we upheld as a valid time, place, or manner regulation a rule requiring that solicitation in a public fairground take place only at assigned booths. We rejected the claim that the rule was a "total ban" because we found that it permitted groups "to solicit funds and distribute and sell literature from within the fairgrounds, albeit from a fixed location." Id. at 452 U. S. 655, n. 16. The postal regulation, by contrast, prohibits solicitation altogether.
"[n]o doubt a plausible argument could be made that the political gatherings of some parties are more likely than others to attract large crowds, causing congestion, that picketing for certain causes is more likely than other picketing to cause visual clutter, or that speakers delivering a particular message are more likely than others to attract an unruly audience. . . . [But] governments [must] regulate based on actual congestion, visual clutter, or violence, rather than based on predictions that speech with a certain content will induce these effects."
Boos v. Barry, 485 U.S. at 485 U. S. 335 (BRENNAN, J., concurring in part and concurring in judgment). The First Amendment demands that the Postal Service prohibit solicitation only when it actually threatens legitimate government interests; "[b]road prophylactic rules in the area of free expression are suspect. . . . Precision of regulation must be the touchstone." NAACP v. Button, 371 U. S. 415, 371 U. S. 438 (1963).
foyers, corridors, offices, elevators, stairways, and parking lots, or which otherwise tends to impede or disturb the public employees in the performance of their duties, or which otherwise impedes or disturbs the general public in transacting business or obtaining the services provided on property, is prohibited."
39 CFR § 232.1(e) (1989). Similarly, § 232.1(k)(2) forbids "[t]he blocking of entrances, driveways, walks, loading platforms, or fire hydrants in or on [postal] property." See also § 232.1(c) (prohibition on "creating any hazard to persons or things"). Thus, although the postal regulation at issue here -- § 232.1(h)(1) -- bans solicitation altogether, postal regulations restrict other forms of expression only when they actually disrupt postal operations. There is no reason why the rules prohibiting disruptive conduct cannot be used to address the governmental interest in this case, and hence there is no need for a categorical exclusion of solicitation from sidewalks on postal property.
may be quite unlikely to attract much of an audience, because public requests for money are often ignored. Certainly, solicitors are less likely to draw a crowd, and thus to disrupt postal functions, than are eloquent orators or persons distributing popular magazines for free. Under the regulation, a group may stage a political rally to call attention to the problem of drug abuse [Footnote 11] and draw hundreds or even thousands of persons to the area just outside the entrance to the post office, because there is no general prohibition on large gatherings on postal premises. [Footnote 12] But since there is a categorical ban on solicitation, the group would be unable to ask a single member of the public for a contribution to advance its cause.
This inconsistent treatment renders the prohibition on solicitation unreasonable. The Postal Service undeniably has a legitimate interest in avoiding disruption of its postal facilities and ensuring that its buildings remain accessible to the public. But the Government interest in preventing disruption of post office business or harassment of postal patrons is addressed by the direct prohibitions on such conduct in existing postal rules, see supra, at 497 U. S. 758-759, and the Service has not explained satisfactorily why these provisions are inadequate to deal with any disruption caused by solicitation.
interest could not justify the blanket ban on solicitation alone. Many expressive activities permitted by § 232.1(h)(1) likely would trigger the same reactions in the audience. Pamphleteers might distribute embarrassing or disturbing handbills, and soapbox orators might shout caustic invectives at postal patrons as they walk past, yet those activities are not subject to a categorical prohibition. Indeed, the Postal Service permits other types of speech that demand an immediate response from the listener, such as inviting passers-by to sign a petition to place an initiative proposal on the ballot. See Meyer v. Grant, 486 U. S. 414 (1988). The notion that solicitation is "inherently" more invasive of the public's peace of mind is untenable.
to the problem of disruption are so obvious that the no-solicitation regulation can scarcely be considered a reasonable way of addressing the Service's asserted interest in avoiding case-by-case determinations.
See, e.g., L. Tribe, American Constitutional Law 993 (2d ed. 1988) ("[A]n excessive focus on the public character of some forums, coupled with inadequate attention to the precise details of the restrictions on expression, can leave speech inadequately protected in some cases while unduly hampering state and local authorities in others") (footnotes omitted); Dienes, The Trashing of the Public Forum: Problems in First Amendment Analysis, 55 Geo.Wash.L.Rev. 109, 110 (1986) ("[C]onceptual approaches such as that embodied in the nonpublic-forum doctrine simply yield an inadequate jurisprudence of labels"); Farber & Nowak, The Misleading Nature of Public Forum Analysis: Content and Context in First Amendment Adjudication, 70 Va.L.Rev. 1219, 1234 (1984) ("Classification of public places as various types of forums has only confused judicial opinions by diverting attention from the real first amendment issues involved in the cases"); Post, Between Governance and Management: The History and Theory of the Public Forum, 34 U.C.L.A.L.Rev. 1713 1715-1716 (1987) ("The doctrine has in fact become a serious obstacle not only to sensitive first amendment analysis but also to a realistic appreciation of the government's requirements in controlling its own property. It has received nearly universal condemnation from commentators"); Stone, Content-Neutral Restrictions, 54 U.Chi.L.Rev. 46, 93 (1987) (current public forum analysis is plagued by a "myopic focus on formalistic labels" that "serves only to distract attention from the real stakes").
There may be important differences between cases in which citizens have a legal right to be present on government property and those in which "citizens claim a right to enter government property for the particular purpose of speaking." Laycock, Equal Access and Moments of Silence: The Equal Status of Religious Speech by Private Speakers, 81 Nw.U.L.Rev. 1, 48 (1986), cited in Airport Commr's v. Jews for Jesus, Inc., 482 U. S. 569, 482 U. S. 573 (1987). In the former class of cases -- into which the instant case falls -- the Court has recognized that, when citizens are going about their business in a place they are entitled to be, they are presumptively entitled to speak. See Jamison v. Texas, 318 U. S. 413, 318 U. S. 416 (1943); see also Post, supra, at 1717, 1765-1767, 1773-1775, 1781-1784.
"the mere presence of a parking area between the street and a sidewalk limits our scrutiny of speech-related regulations to the standard for nonpublic fora, we issue an open invitation for government architects and landscapers to surround public buildings with modern-day moats."
"The First Amendment is not consigned to the mercies of architectural chicanery, nor may a federal agency, simply by designating a sidewalk its own, spare itself by designating a sidewalk its own, spare itself the inconvenience of political protest and speech."
866 F.2d at 703 (1989) (citation omitted).
This is not a case involving the Government's "discretion and control over the management of its personnel and internal affairs.'" Cornelius v. NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., 473 U.S. at 473 U. S. 805, quoting Arnett v. Kennedy, 416 U. S. 134, 416 U. S. 168 (1974) (Powell, J., concurring in part); see also Cafeteria Workers v. McElroy, 367 U. S. 886, 367 U. S. 896 (1961) (upholding authority of the commander of a military base to deny employment to a civilian cook without a hearing on the basis of security concerns). The instant case involves activities of ordinary citizens outside the post office, not the conduct of postal employees. I reject the plurality's implication that the "proprietary" nature of the post office somehow detracts from the sidewalk's status as a public forum. Ante at 497 U. S. 725.
"[T]he government may not escape the reach of the First Amendment by asserting that it acts only in a proprietary capacity with respect to streets and parks."
Smith v. Goguen, 415 U. S. 566, 415 U. S. 594 (1974) (REHNQUIST, J., dissenting) (emphasis added). The sidewalk or street outside the White House is no different from one outside a post office or one outside a private store -- despite the differences in what transpires inside. The plurality's statement that "[t]he purpose of the forum in this case is to accomplish the most efficient and effective postal delivery system," ante at 497 U. S. 732, confuses the sidewalk with the interior of the post office.
Furthermore, I would be wary of placing so much weight on the blurry concept of government qua "proprietor." See Garcia v. San Antonio Metropolitan Transit Authority, 469 U. S. 528, 469 U. S. 539-547 (1985); Owen v. City of Independence, 445 U. S. 622, 445 U. S. 644-647 (1980). Certainly, the mere fact that postal operations are somehow implicated here cannot give the Government greater license to silence citizens in a public forum. Cf. Rutan v. Republican Party of Illinois, ante at 497 U. S. 70-71, n. 4. The fact that the government is acting as an employer or as a proprietor does not exempt it from the distinct requirements of the Equal Protection Clause, see, e.g., Mississippi Univ. for Women v. Hogan, 458 U. S. 718, 458 U. S. 723-724 (1982); Sugarman v. Dougall, 413 U. S. 634, 413 U. S. 641, 413 U. S. 648-649 (1973); Turner v. City of Memphis, 369 U. S. 350, 369 U. S. 353 (1962) (per curiam ), or the Due Process Clause, Cleveland Board of Education v. Loudermill, 470 U. S. 532, 470 U. S. 538-545 (1985); Perry v. Sindermann, 408 U. S. 593, 408 U. S. 599-603 (1972), or the Commerce Clause, see South-Central Timber Development, Inc. v. Wunnicke, 467 U. S. 82, 467 U. S. 87 (1984), or the Privileges and Immunities Clause of Article IV. See United Building & Construction Trades Council of Camden County v. Mayor and Council of Camden, 465 U. S. 208, 465 U. S. 214-218 (1984).
The plurality's reliance on Lehman v. City of Shaker Heights, 418 U. S. 298 (1974) (plurality opinion), is also misplaced. That a city may protect a captive audience in the small, enclosed space of a municipal bus says little about the type of regulations that the government may adopt in the context of an outdoor public sidewalk. Justice Douglas, who provided the fifth vote in Lehman in his opinion concurring in the judgment, saw a clear distinction between the two situations.
"One who hears disquieting or unpleasant programs in public places, such as restaurants, can get up and leave. But the man on the streetcar has no choice but to sit and listen, or perhaps to sit and to try not to listen."
Public Utilities Comm'n v. Pollak, 343 U. S. 451, 343 U. S. 469 (1952) (Douglas, J., dissenting). Although the Government, within certain limits, may protect captive listeners against unwelcome intrusions, in public locations "we expect individuals simply to avoid speech they do not want to hear." Frisby v. Schultz, 487 U.S. at 487 U. S. 484; cf. Erznoznik v. City of Jacksonville, 422 U. S. 205, 422 U. S. 210-211 (1975); Cohen v. California, 403 U. S. 15, 403 U. S. 21-22 (1971).
Greer v. Spock, 424 U. S. 828 (1976), is readily distinguishable, because the Court in that case held, over my dissent, that a sidewalk on a military base was not truly "open" to the public, and was therefore not a public forum. The Court reasoned that, although the public was freely permitted to visit the base, the commanding officer's authority to exclude not only those engaged in expressive activity but anyone deemed by him to be detrimental to the defense function was "unquestioned." Id. at 424 U. S. 838. Compare Flower v. United States, 407 U. S. 197, 407 U. S. 198 (1972) (per curiam) (reversing conviction for distributing leaflets on a military base where the "fort commander chose not to exclude the public from the street where petitioner was arrested" and where "there [wa]s no sentry post or guard at either entrance or anywhere along the route'" and "`[t]raffic flow[ed] through the post on this and other streets 24 hours a day'") (citation omitted). Of course, I disagreed with the majority's assessment of the facts in Greer, as the plurality today points out. See ante at 497 U. S. 729. But that the Court in Greer engaged in a debate over the degree to which the sidewalk was open to the public demonstrates that the Court believed that a sidewalk generally accessible to the public -- as in the instant case -- is a public forum. At any rate, I do not believe that our decision in Greer, colored as it was by the special security concerns of a military base, see 424 U.S. at 424 U. S. 837 ("[T]his Court over the years has on countless occasions recognized the special constitutional function of the military in our national life, a function both explicit and indispensable"); see also Brown v. Glines, 444 U. S. 348, 444 U. S. 353-354 (1980) (discussing Greer), is helpful in identifying public forums outside the unique context of the military.
I am encouraged by the apparent fact that a majority of the Court does not adhere to the plurality's reasoning on this point. Justice KENNEDY's citation to Justice BLACKMUN's Cornelius dissent, see ante at 497 U. S. 738 (KENNEDY, J., concurring in judgment), citing Cornelius, 473 U.S. at 473 U. S. 819-820, suggests that Justice KENNEDY believes that access depends upon "the nature of the forum and the nature of the expressive activity" and whether "the activity [would be] compatible with normal uses of the property," 473 U.S. at 473 U. S. 820, not upon whether the government explicitly permits access. See ante at 497 U. S. 737-738 ("If our public forum jurisprudence is to retain vitality, we must recognize that certain objective characteristics of government property and its customary use by the public may control the case") (KENNEDY, J., concurring in judgment).
"In a face-to-face encounter, there is a greater opportunity for the exchange of ideas and the propagation of views than is available [through written] literature [that is] merely informative."
Cornelius, 473 U.S. at 473 U. S. 798.
"Since the act of soliciting alms or contributions usually has as its objective an immediate act of charity, it has the potentiality for evoking highly personal and subjective reactions. Reflection usually is not encouraged, and the person solicited often must make a hasty decision whether to share his resources with an unfamiliar organization while under the eager gaze of the solicitor. Such confrontations, if occurring in the confines of a small post office lobby, at a post office writing desk or service window, or in a queue at a service window -- places from which the individual cannot escape if he or she wishes to transact postal business -- would be likely to produce hostile reactions and to cause people to avoid post offices."
43 Fed.Reg. 38824 (1978) (emphasis added).
"most post office lobbies . . . are too small to accommodate nonpostal public activities without disturbing postal employees in the performance of their duties and impeding the public in transacting postal business,"
42 Fed.Reg. 63911 (1977); see also 43 Fed.Reg. 38824 (1978), says nothing about the sidewalks outside. The confined space of a lobby may well warrant measures that are not permissible elsewhere.
I do not think it appropriate to imagine for ourselves the possible ways in which solicitation on outside sidewalks might be disruptive. The Postal Service, the agency with "long experience" in this regard, ante at 497 U. S. 735, has been silent on the matter, except insofar as the Government has attempted to present post hoc rationalizations for the regulation long after its promulgation. See ibid. (citing Tr. of Oral Arg.). By analogy, were this a straightforward administrative law case, the failure of the Postal Service to document any danger of disruption from solicitation on outside sidewalks would be the end of the matter. See Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. v. LTV Corp., 496 U. S. 633, 496 U. S. 653-654 (1990); Citizens to Preserve Overton Park, Inc. v. Volpe, 401 U. S. 402, 401 U. S. 419 (1971); SEC v. Chenery Corp., 318 U. S. 80, 318 U. S. 87 (1943).
"[i]n a public forum, by definition, all parties have a constitutional right of access and the State must demonstrate compelling reasons for restricting access to a single class of speakers, a single viewpoint, or a single subject."
Perry Education Assn., 460 U.S. at 460 U. S. 55 (emphasis added). Thus, in United States v. Grace, 461 U. S. 171, 461 U. S. 177 (1983), we contrasted "time, place, and manner regulations" with "[a]dditional restrictions such as an absolute prohibition on a particular type of expression." The latter, we said, "will be upheld only if narrowly drawn to accomplish a compelling governmental interest." Ibid.
I note that one of the prosecutions at issue in United States v. Eichman, 496 U. S. 310 (1990), involved a flag-burning that occurred on a sidewalk in front of a post office. See United States v. Haggerty, 731 F.Supp. 415, 416 (WD Wash.1990).
The regulation subjects to a categorical ban only "campaigning for election to any public office." 39 CFR § 232.1(h)(1) (1989). A rally concerning a particular issue rather than a candidate is not covered.
The organizers of such a rally might well be prosecuted for obstructing the entrance of the post office under § 232.1(e) or § 232.1(k)(2) if the gathering in fact caused a disruption. But that is precisely the point: Other regulations, not § 232.1(h)(1), protect the Postal Service's asserted interest.
The Postal Service's desire to protect customers from speech with which they might disagree would not be a valid basis for regulation even were the sidewalk a nonpublic forum. While we have held that speech in a nonpublic forum may be regulated so as to prevent disruption of the forum, see Cornelius, 473 U.S. at 473 U. S. 811, a restriction cannot be premised on the mere fact that some members of the public might disapprove of a speaker's message or means of delivery. Such expression "is still protected speech, even in a nonpublic forum." Airport Commr's v. Jews for Jesus, Inc., 482 U.S. at 482 U. S. 576.
"The Postal Service has no intention to discontinue . . . that valuable service [of providing a place for the display of public notices and announcements] to local communities. The adopted regulation contains, as did the proposed rule, language insuring that the authority of postmasters to allow the placement in post offices of bulletin boards for the display of public notices and announcements, will continue as before. Thus, both [§ 232.1(h)(1)(ii) and § 232.1(o)(1)] contain language excepting from their coverage, 'posting notices on bulletin boards as authorized in § 243.2(a) of this chapter.'"
"The reference[d] section authorizes both public and employee bulletin boards. Postmasters are not required to provide bulletin board space for nongovernmental public announcements, but they are encouraged by postal policy to provide such space for the display of notices of public assemblies and judicial sales, official election notices issued by State or local government, and similar announcements so long as there is sufficient space for the effective display of scheduled postal materials and other Federal Government notices."

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