Source: https://case-law.vlex.com/vid/468-u-s-641-604952594
Timestamp: 2020-01-28 11:15:39
Document Index: 410391079

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 504', '§ 504', '§ 504', '§ 504', '§ 474', '§ 504', '§ 474', '§ 8', '§ 474', '§ 504', '§ 474', '§ 504', '§ 474']

468 U.S. 641 (1984), 82-729, Regan v. Time, Inc. - Federal Cases - Case Law - VLEX 604952594
468 U.S. 641 (1984), 82-729, Regan v. Time, Inc.
Docket Nº: No. 82-729
Citation: 468 U.S. 641, 104 S.Ct. 3262, 82 L.Ed.2d 487
Party Name: Regan v. Time, Inc.
104 S.Ct. 3262, 82 L.Ed.2d 487
for philatelic, numismatic, educational, historical, or newsworthy purposes in articles, books, journals, newspapers, or albums
JUSTICE WHITE delivered the opinion of the Court with respect to Part II-A, concluding that § 504's purpose requirement is unconstitutional. It cannot be sustained as a valid time, place, and manner regulation because it discriminates on the basis of content in violation of the First Amendment. A determination as to the newsworthiness or educational value of a photograph cannot help but be based on the content of the photograph and the message it delivers. Under § 504, one photographic reproduction will be allowed and another disallowed solely because the Government determines that the message in one is newsworthy or educational, but the message in the other is not. Pp. 648-649.
2. The fact that § 504's purpose requirement is unconstitutional does not automatically render the statute's entire regulatory scheme invalid. Whether an unconstitutional provision is severable from the remainder of a statute is largely a question of legislative intent, but the presumption is in favor of severability. Here, it appears that the policies Congress sought to advance by enacting § 504 -- to ease the administrative burden without hindering the Government's efforts to enforce the counterfeiting laws -- can be effectuated even though the purpose requirement is unenforceable. Pp. 652-655.
3. Section 504's size and color requirements are valid as reasonable manner [104 S.Ct. 3264] regulations that can constitutionally be imposed on those wishing to publish photographic reproductions of currency. Compliance with these requirements does not prevent appellee from expressing any view on any subject or from using illustrations of currency in expressing these views. Moreover, the Government does not need to evaluate the nature of the message imparted in order to enforce the requirements, since they restrict only the manner in which the illustrations can be presented. Such requirements also effectively serve the Government's compelling interest in preventing counterfeiting. Because the provisions of § 474 are of real concern only when § 504's requirements are not complied with, § 474 is also constitutional. Pp. 655-659.
WHITE, J., announced the judgment of the Court and delivered the opinion of the Court with respect to Part II-A, in which BURGER, C.J., and BRENNAN, MARSHALL, REHNQUIST, and O'CONNOR, JJ., joined, and an opinion with respect to Parts II-B, II-C, and II-D, in which BURGER, C.J., and REHNQUIST and O'CONNOR, JJ., joined. BRENNAN, J., filed an opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part, in which MARSHALL, J., joined, post, p. 659. POWELL, J., filed an opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part, in which BLACKMUN, J., joined, post, p. 691. STEVENS,
J., filed an opinion concurring in the judgment in part and dissenting in part,post, p. 692.
The Constitution expressly empowers Congress to "provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States." U.S.Const., Art. I, § 8, cl. 6. Pursuant to that authority, Congress enacted two statutes that together restrict the use of photographic reproductions of currency. 18 U.S.C. § 474, ¶ 6, and 18 U.S.C. § 504. The Federal District Court for the Southern District of New York held that those two statutes violate the First Amendment. Appellants ask us to overturn that judgment.
Title 18 U.S.C. § 474 was enacted during the Civil War to combat the surge in counterfeiting caused by the great increase in Government obligations issued to fund the war and the unsettled economic conditions of the time. See United States v. Raynor, 302 U.S. 540, 544-546 (1938). The sixth paragraph of that section provides criminal liability for anyone who
prints, photographs, or in any other manner makes or executes any engraving, photograph, print, or impression
in the likeness of any . . . obligation or other security [of the United States] or any part thereof. . . .1
This complete ban on the use of photographic reproductions of currency remained without statutory exception for almost a century. However, during that time, the Treasury Department developed a practice of granting special permission to those who wished to use certain illustrations of paper money for legitimate purposes. In 1958, Congress acted to codify that practice by amending2 18 U.S.C. § 504 so as to permit the
printing, publishing, or importation . . . of illustrations of . . . any . . . obligation or other security of [104 S.Ct. 3265] the United States . . . for philatelic, numismatic, educational, historical, or newsworthy purposes in articles, books, journals, newspapers, or albums. . . .
had to be in black and white. Second, they had to be undersized or oversized, i.e., less than three-fourths or more than one and one-half the size of the original. And third, the negative and plates used in making the illustrations had to be destroyed after their final authorized use.3 Therefore, under the present statutory scheme, a person may make photographic reproductions of currency without risking criminal liability if the reproductions meet the purpose (numismatic,
Over the course of the past two decades, Time, Inc., the publisher of several popular magazines, has been advised by Secret Service agents that particular photographic reproductions of currency appearing in its magazines violated the provisions of §§ 474 and 504. Despite the warnings, Time continued to use such reproductions. When the front cover of the February 16, 1981, issue of Sports Illustrated carried a photographic color reproduction of $100 bills pouring into a basketball hoop, a Secret Service agent informed Time's legal department that the illustration violated federal law, and that it would be necessary for the Service to seize all plates and materials used in connection with the production of the cover. The agent also asked for the names and addresses of all the printers...