Opinion ID: 1983886
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: first amendment jurisprudence as a backdrop to statutory construction

Text: There is no dispute that, pursuant to the State's police power, the General Assembly may regulate the practice of engineering and the engineering profession within Delaware. See State v. Durham, Del.Super., 191 A.2d 646, 648 (1963) (state may regulate professions for the purpose of protecting the health, safety and welfare of its citizens). Likewise, it is undisputed that the Act itself is a proper application of the State's police power. The parties disagree, however, on the following issues: (1) whether Section 2825 may be constitutionally applied to ESD on this record under the commercial speech jurisprudence of the United States Constitution; [8] and (2) if Section 2825 is constitutional, whether Section 2825 covers ESD's use of the term engineered. Commercial speech is `linked inextricably' with the commercial arrangement it proposes. Edenfield v. Fane, 507 U.S. 761, ___, 113 S.Ct. 1792, 1798, 123 L.Ed.2d 543 (1993) (citing Friedman v. Rogers, 440 U.S. 1, 10 n. 9, 99 S.Ct. 887, 894 n. 9, 59 L.Ed.2d 100 reh'g denied, 441 U.S. 917, 99 S.Ct. 2018, 60 L.Ed.2d 389 (1979)). Therefore, the state's underlying interest in regulating the transaction gives it a concomitant interest in the expression itself. Id. (citing Ohralik v. Ohio State Bar Ass'n, 436 U.S. 447, 457, 98 S.Ct. 1912, 1919, 56 L.Ed.2d 444 reh'g denied, 439 U.S. 883, 99 S.Ct. 226, 58 L.Ed.2d 198 (1978)). Consequently, state restrictions on commercial speech need be tailored only in a reasonable manner to serve a substantial state interest in order to survive First Amendment scrutiny, id. (citing Board of Trustees of State Univ. of N.Y. v. Fox, 492 U.S. 469, 480, 109 S.Ct. 3028, 3034, 106 L.Ed.2d 388 (1989); Central Hudson Gas & Elec. Corp. v. Public Serv. Comm'n of N.Y., 447 U.S. 557, 564, 100 S.Ct. 2343, 2350, 65 L.Ed.2d 341 (1980)), and need survive intermediate, rather than strict scrutiny, id. In Central Hudson, the United States Supreme Court has developed a test for determining whether a state's circumscription of commercial speech runs afoul of the First Amendment. 447 U.S. at 566, 100 S.Ct. at 2351. Using the Central Hudson analysis, the Supreme Court recently upheld rules of the Florida Bar which prohibit personal injury lawyers from sending targeted direct mail solicitations to victims and their relatives for 30 days following an accident or disaster. Florida Bar v. Went For It, Inc., ___ U.S. ___, 115 S.Ct. 2371, 132 L.Ed.2d 541 (1995). The Court there reframed the Central Hudson test as follows: Under Central Hudson, the government may freely regulate commercial speech that concerns unlawful activity or is misleading. Id., [447 U.S.] at 563-564, 100 S.Ct., at 2350. Commercial speech that falls into neither of those categories, like the advertising at issue here, may be regulated if the government satisfies a test consisting of three related prongs: first, the government must assert a substantial interest in support of its regulation; second, the government must demonstrate that the restriction on commercial speech directly and materially advances that interest; and third, the regulation must be `narrowly drawn,' id., at 564-565, 100 S.Ct., at 2350-51. ___ U.S. at ___, 115 S.Ct. at 2376. The analysis has been held to involve an investigation of whether the speech is actually or inherently misleading or merely potentially misleading. Peel v. Attorney Registration & Disciplinary Comm'n of Ill., 496 U.S. 91, 106-107, 110 S.Ct. 2281, 2291, 110 L.Ed.2d 83 (1990). States may prohibit actually or inherently misleading commercial speech entirely. [Citation omitted]. They may not, however, ban potentially misleading commercial speech if narrower limitations could be crafted to ensure that the information is presented in a nonmisleading manner. Id. at 111, 110 S.Ct. at 2293 (Marshall, J., concurring). Using this analysis, the Court of Chancery found that ESD's use of the term engineered was not actually or inherently misleading, but rather potentially misleading. Slip op. at 10-14, 1994 WL 672680. After finding that ESD's name was only potentially misleading, the court relied on its erroneous determination that Section 2825 banned all uses of the word engineer, and found that Section 2825 did not meet the Peel test. The court stated that the First Amendment prevents the enforcement of Section 2825 against ESD and held that Delaware cannot place an absolute prohibition on potentially misleading information. Id. The court then granted summary judgment for ESD on this issue. Based upon our reading of the Act, we hold that Section 2825 is not unconstitutional on its face or as applied to ESD on this record. Section 2825 meets the applicable tests articulated in Peel, Central Hudson and Florida Bar in that it: (1) does not prohibit the use of speech protected by the First Amendment; (2) is tailored to meet a substantial state interest; (3) directly advances that interest; and (4) is not more extensive than necessary.