Court Opinion

ID: 9429678
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:27:38.370441+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:23:20.854208
License: Public Domain

Justice Rehnquist,
with whom The Chief Justice, Justice Powell, and Justice O’Connor join,
dissenting.
Four Terms ago, the Court struck down an ordinance of the Village of Schaumburg, Illinois, which prohibited “the solicitation of contributions by charitable organizations that do not use at least 75 percent of their receipts for ‘charitable purposes,’ those purposes being defined to exclude solicitation expenses, salaries, overhead, and other administrative expenses.” Schaumburg v. Citizens for a Better Environment, 444 U. S. 620, 622 (1980). Today, on the authority of that decision, the Court strikes down a markedly different Maryland statute, whose primary and legitimate effect is to prohibit professional fundraisers from charging charities a fee of more than 25% of the amount raised. The Court, invoking the doctrine of “overbreadth,” reaches this result not at the behest of any affected charity, but at the behest of a professional fundraising organization. Believing that in this case the overbreadth doctrine is not merely “strong medicine,” Broadrick v. Oklahoma, 413 U. S. 601, 613 (1973), but “bad medicine,” I dissent.
Recently, this Court reaffirmed its commitment to “[t]he traditional rule” that, except in the rarest circumstances, “a person to whom a statute may constitutionally be applied may not challenge that statute on the ground that it may conceivably be applied unconstitutionally to others in situations not before the Court.” New York v. Ferber, 458 U. S. 747, *976767 (1982).1 This commitment is in keeping with the fact that the courts in our federal system do not have a roving commission “to survey the statute books and pass judgment on laws before the courts are called upon to enforce them.” Younger v. Harris, 401 U. S. 37, 52 (1971). The Constitutional Convention specifically rejected a proposal to have Members of the Supreme Court render advice concerning pending legislation. See 1 M. Farrand, Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, p. 21 (1911). And through the “case or controversy” requirement of Art. Ill, all federal courts are restricted to the resolution of concrete disputes between the parties before them. Musings as to possible applications of a statute to third parties in hypothetical situations may be fitting for the classroom and the statehouse, but they are neither wise nor permissible in the courtroom.
The very power of the judiciary to declare a law unconstitutional depends upon a “flesh-and-blood” dispute in which the application of the law comes into conflict with the superior authority of the Constitution. As Chief Justice Marshall explained in Marbury v. Madison, 1 Cranch 137, 178 (1803):
“So if a law be in opposition to the constitution; if both the law and the constitution apply to a particular case, so that the court must either decide that case conform-ably to the law, disregarding the constitution; or con-formably to the constitution, disregarding the law; the court must determine which of these conflicting rules governs the case. This is of the very essence of judicial duty.” (Emphasis added.)
The crucial corollary of this justification for judicial review is the principle that constitutional rights are personal and *977may not be asserted vicariously. McGowan v. Maryland, 366 U. S. 420, 429-430 (1961). When a litigant challenges the constitutionality of a statute, he challenges the statute’s application to him. He claims, for example, that his activities, which the statute seeks to regulate, are protected by the First Amendment. If he prevails, the Court invalidates the statute, not in toto, but only as applied to those activities. The law is refined by preventing improper applications on a case-by-case basis. In the meantime, the interests underlying the law can still be served by its enforcement within constitutional bounds.
A successful overbreadth challenge, on the other hand, suspends enforcement of a statute entirely. The interests underlying the law, however substantial, are simply negated until the statute is either rewritten by the legislature or “reinterpreted” by an authorized court to serve those interests more narrowly. The litigant is permitted to raise the rights of third parties not before the court in order to forestall even legitimate applications of the law.
The advantages of the first approach are obvious. It is less intrusive on the legislative prerogative and less disruptive of state policy to limit the permitted reach of a statute only on a case-by-case basis. Such restraint also allows state courts the opportunity to construe a law to avoid constitutional infirmities. New York v. Ferber, supra, at 768. Finally, the decision itself is likely to be more sound when based on data relevant and adequate to an informed judgment. The facts of the case focus and give meaning to the otherwise abstract and amorphous issues the court must decide. “Facts and facts again are decisive.” Frankfurter & Landis, A Note on Advisory Opinions, 37 Harv. L. Rev. 1002, 1005 (1924).
One might as a matter of original inquiry question whether an overbreadth challenge should ever be allowed, given that the Declaratory Judgment Act and the availability of preliminary injunctive relief will usually permit a litigant to discover *978the scope of constitutional protection afforded his activity without subjecting himself to criminal prosecution. Be that as it may, however, our cases at least indicate that the doctrine is to be used sparingly. “[W]e have recognized that the overbreadth doctrine is ‘strong medicine’ and have employed it with hesitation, and then ‘only as a last resort.’” New York v. Ferber, supra, at 769 (quoting Broadrick v. Oklahoma, 413 U. S., at 613). We have insisted that the overbreadth of a statute be “substantial” in relation to its legitimate sweep before the statute ■will be invalidated on its face. “[Particularly where conduct and not merely speech is involved,” Broadrick, supra, at 615, we are hesitant to paralyze the legitimate enforcement efforts of the States based solely on predictions as to potential chill.
These considerations apply with special force in this case. The challenged Maryland statute functions primarily as an economic regulation setting a limit on the fees charged by professional fundraisers. The purpose and effect of the statute are, therefore, altogether different from those of the Village ordinance invalidated in Schaumburg, supra. Schaumburg’s ordinance provided that “[e]very charitable organization, which solicits or intends to solicit contributions from persons in the village by door-to-door solicitation or the use of public streets and public ways, shall prior to such solicitation apply for a permit.” Schaumburg Village Code, Ch. 22, Art. Ill, §22-20 (1975). The application for that permit was required to contain “[satisfactory proof that at least seventy-five per cent of the proceeds of such solicitations will be used directly for the charitable purpose of the organization.” §22-20(g). Excluded from the definition of “charitable purpose” were all solicitation expenses, salaries, overhead, and other administrative expenses. Ibid.
Thus, Schaumburg’s ordinance was primarily directed at controlling the nature and internal workings of charitable organizations seeking to solicit in the Village, and its prime failing was that it effectively prohibited any solicitation by “organizations that are primarily engaged in research, advo*979cacy, or public education and that use their own paid staff to carry out those functions as well as to solicit financial support.” Schaumburg, 444 U. S., at 636. Such advocacy organizations are likely to have high administrative expenses which would make it impossible for them to qualify for a permit.
Maryland’s statute, on the other hand, is primarily directed at controlling the external, economic relations between charities and professional fundraisers. Such fundraisers are required by § 103F to register with the Secretary, furnish certain information, pay an annual fee, file a bond and, most important of all, comply with the requirements of the subtitle, including §103D. Section §103D provides in relevant part:
“(a) A charitable organization . . . may not pay or agree to pay as expenses in connection with any fund-raising activity a total amount in excess of 25 percent of the total gross income raised or received by reason of the fund-raising activity. ...”
As to Munson and other professional fundraisers who are not themselves engaged in speech activities, § 103D, read in conjunction with § 103F, is merely an economic regulation controlling the fees the firm is permitted to charge. A similar regulation governing, for example, the fees charged by an employment agency would be judged and approved under the minimum rationality standard traditionally applied to economic regulations. See, e. g., Ohralik v. Ohio State Bar Assn., 436 U. S. 447, 460 (1978); Williamson v. Lee Optical Co., 348 U. S. 483 (1955). Of course, a ceiling on the fees charged by professional fundraisers may have an incidental and indirect impact on protected expression — as would, for example, a ceiling placed on the fees charged by literary agents — in that marginal producers could be forced out of the market. In other words, price controls might tend to make these services less available, much as rent control is thought to make rental housing less available. But such an indirect *980and incidental impact on expression is not sufficient to subject such regulation to strict First Amendment scrutiny. Otherwise, national forest legislation would be equally suspect as tending to raise the price and limit the quantity of paper.
Even if limitations on the fees charged by professional fundraisers were subjected to heightened scrutiny, however, those limitations serve a number of legitimate and substantial governmental interests. They insure that funds solicited from the public for a charitable purpose will not be excessively diverted to private pecuniary gain. In the process, they encourage the public to give by allowing the public to give with confidence that money designed for a charity will be spent on charitable purposes. The legislature could conclude that fees charged by professional fundraisers must be kept within moderate limits to coincide with the contributors’ expectations that their contributions will go primarily to the charitable purpose. There is an element of “fraud” in soliciting money “for” a charity when in reality that charity will see only a small fraction of the funds collected.2 But even if a fundraiser were to fully disclose to every donor that half of the money collected would be used for “expenses,” so that there could be no question of “fraud” in the common-law sense of that word, the State’s interest is not at an end. The statute, as the Court concedes, is also directed against the incurring of excessive costs in charitable solicitation even where the costs are fully disclosed to both potential donors and the charity. Such a law protects the charities themselves from being overcharged by unscrupulous professional fundraisers.
*981The Court, therefore, is simply mistaken when it claims that “there is no core of easily identifiable and constitutionally proscribable conduct that the statute prohibits.” Ante, at 965-966. The rates charged by professional fundraisers are in fact both “easily identifiable” and “constitutionally proscribable.” If Maryland’s statute regulated only the rates charged by professional fundraisers to charitable organizations, this would be an easy case. The statute would be clearly constitutional.
But of course the statute also applies to solicitation expenses other than those spent on professional fundraisers. To that extent, therefore, the statute directly regulates the solicitation activities of charities and is subject to more intense scrutiny. Schaumburg, swpra, at 6B2. Even as applied directly to charities, however, the statute serves legitimate objectives insofar as it regulates fundraising costs not attributable to public education or advocacy. Again, donor confidence is enhanced by such a regulation, and the intended objects of the public’s bounty are benefited. The real question before the Court, then, is whether the over-breadth of the statute — the extent to which it might infringe on constitutionally protected expression — is substantial judged in relation to the statute’s plainly legitimate sweep. Broadrick v. Oklahoma, 413 U. S., at 615.
The Court today echoes the concern of Schaumburg that some charities will incur fundraising costs higher than the 25% limitation not because the costs are essential to fund-raising, but because the charity seeks to raise funds in a manner that serves other educational and advocacy goals. See ante, at 963-964. Unlike Schaumburg, however, it is not at all clear that the Court’s concern is well founded in this case. In baldly claiming that advocacy organizations “remain barred by the statute from carrying on those protected First Amendment activities,” ante, at 964, the Court simply ignores or slights some crucial differences between this statute and the ordinance at issue in Schaumburg.
*982First of all, administrative and overhead costs that are not attributable to fundraising are not included in the 25% calculation of § 103D(a). Thus, the salaries of researchers, policymakers and technical support staff, as well as general overhead expenses, do not count as fundraising costs. “[Organizations that spend large amounts on salaries and administrative expenses,” Schaumburg, 444 U. S., at 638, will therefore be largely unaffected by the statute. To take but one obviously pertinent example, Citizens for a Better Environment, the plaintiff in Schaumburg, reportedly spent 23.3% of its income on fundraising in 1975 and 21.5% on administration. In 1976, these figures were 23.3% and 16.5%, respectively. Id., at 626. Thus, although that organization was prohibited from soliciting door-to-door by the Village ordinance in Schaumburg, it would be readily accommodated by Maryland’s more carefully drawn statute.
Second, §103D(b) specifically excludes from the definition of fundraising costs many of the costs associated with combined advocacy and fundraising activities. The section provides:
“(b) For purposes of this section, the total gross income raised or received shall be adjusted so as not to include contributions received equal to the actual cost to the charitable organization of (1) goods, food, entertainment, or drink sold or provided to the public, nor should these costs be included as fund-raising costs; (2) the actual postage paid to the United States Postal Service and printing expense in connection with the soliciting of contributions, nor should these costs be included as fund-raising costs.”
Thus, unlike the ordinance in Schaumburg, the costs of receptions, picnics and other social events at which advocacy organizations seek converts are not included in the fund-raising calculus. Nor are costs associated with printing and mailing advocacy literature. Again, the statute is more *983carefully designed to accommodate the protected expression of such organizations. Sections 103D(a) and (b) together largely eliminate the concerns of Schaumburg.
Third, § 103D(a) directs the Secretary to “issue rules and regulations to permit a charitable organization to pay or agree to pay for expenses in connection with a fund-raising activity more than 25% of its total gross income in those instances where the 25% limitation would effectively prevent the charitable organization from raising contributions.” The Maryland Court of Appeals has said that this waiver provision is “extremely narrow,” but it should still suffice to alleviate the Court’s concern that “unpopular” charities will be precluded from soliciting. Ante, at 967. A charity unable to meet the 25% limit due to the unpopularity of its cause would clearly be entitled to a statutory exemption.3
Finally, even for those activities which mingle fundrais-ing and advocacy, but do not fall within the exceptions of § 103D(b), § 103D(a) appears to call for a pro rata allocation of expenses into those expenses attributable to the fundraising portion of the activity and those attributable to the advocacy portion.
“The Secretary of State shall, by rule or regulation in accordance with the ‘standard of accounting and fiscal reporting for voluntary health and welfare organizations’ provide for the reporting of actual cost, and of allocation of expenses, of a charitable organization into those which *984are in connection with a fund-raising activity and those which are not.”
If such a pro rata allocation is required by the statute, then expenses associated with door-to-door solicitation by a member of the organization4 which involves advocacy and education as well as an appeal for financial support, could not be charged entirely to fundraising.5 If that is correct, the statute is not overbroad at all. Expenses associated with advocacy and public education would be completely excluded from the fundraising calculus. The crucial point is that we cannot know precisely how such activities will be accommodated unless we first give Maryland a chance to face the question in concrete situations.
It would be foolish to claim that these four statutory safeguards will ensure that the statute will never be applied in such a way as to improperly inhibit the protected expression of any advocacy organization. No statute bears an absolute guarantee that it will always be applied within constitutional bounds; consequently, no such guarantee can be demanded. The question before the Court, we must remember, is whether the likely overbreadth of the statute is substantial in relation to its legitimate sweep.
*985The differences noted above between this statute and the ordinance condemned in Schaumburg serve to minimize any potential overbreadth. And given the extensive legitimate application of this statute, both to fundraising expenses not attributable to public education or advocacy and to the fees charged by professional fundraisers who, like Munson, are not themselves engaged in advocating any causes, I see no basis for concluding that the Maryland statute is substantially overbroad. Nor does the Court offer any reason to so believe. As noted, the Court simply misunderstands the primary purpose and effect of the statute and then proceeds to speculate about how it might be improperly applied. Unfortunately, such misunderstanding and ungrounded speculation are the natural hazards of overbreadth analysis. When the Court’s sights are not focused on the actual application of a statute to a specific set of facts, its vision proves sadly deficient.
I dissent.

 See also United States v. Raines, 362 U. S. 17, 21 (1960); Carmichael v. Southern Coal & Coke Co., 301 U. S. 495, 513 (1937); Yazoo & M.V.R. Co. v. Jackson Vinegar Co., 226 U. S. 217, 219-220 (1912); Supervisors v. Stanley, 105 U. S. 305, 311-315 (1882); Austin v. The Aldermen, 7 Wall. 694, 698-699 (1869).

 The Court simply misses the point when it dismisses this legitimate interest with the observation that “there is nothing in the percentage limitation that prevents [an organization] from misdirecting funds.” Ante, at 967. The concern is not that someone may abscond to South America with the funds collected. Rather, a high fundraising fee itself betrays the expectations of the donor who thinks that his money will be used to benefit the charitable purpose in the name of which the money was solicited.

 The Court itself acknowledges that “[t]he possibility of a waiver may decrease the number of impermissible applications of the statute,” but feels that this fact “does nothing to remedy the statute’s fundamental defect.” Ante, at 968. As noted, however, the Court simply ignores the extent to which the statute directly and legitimately regulates both the fees charged by professional fundraisers and those fundraising costs not attributable to public education or advocacy. Properly viewed, any decrease in the number of impermissible applications of the statute is extremely significant as tending to decrease overbreadth in relation to the statute’s legitimate sweep.

 The statute specifically excludes from the definition of professional fundraiser a “bona fide salaried officer or employee of a charitable organization which maintains a permanent office in the State.” § 103A(g).

 The Court rightly points out, ante, at 963, n. 11, that one of the Secretary’s regulations provides that any public education activity which includes “an appeal, specific or implied, for financial support, shall be fully allocated to fund-raising expenses.” Code of Maryland Regulations § 01.02.04.04A(3) (1983). But that regulation is not necessarily consistent with the statutory scheme. It has yet to be tested and we therefore do not know if it would be upheld by the Maryland courts. At any rate, possible constitutional failings in the regulations passed pursuant to a statute do not form a basis for holding the statute itself unconstitutional. A far less drastic solution would be, in an appropriate case, to strike down the regulation.