Court Opinion

ID: 9429750
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:27:47.404294+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:23:21.306635
License: Public Domain

Justice Stevens,
concurring in the judgment in part and dissenting in part.
Time’s challenge to the constitutionality of the prohibition against making any likenesses of currency might proceed on either of two quite different theories. First, even if Time’s ability to communicate is adequately protected by the rather complex exception for publications that contain pictures complying with color and size limitations, the prohibition against communications that do not come within the exception is so broad — or so poorly defined — that the entire statute is invalid. Second, without considering the potential impact of *693the statute on third parties, the restrictions are invalid, in whole or in part, as they apply to Time. Given that this statute contains an express exception for expression which may fully accommodate Time’s First Amendment rights, I think the Court should begin its analysis by evaluating the impact of the statute on the litigant before the Court before it confronts any question concerning the statute’s impact on third parties.
I also think that the Court should decline Time’s invitation to plunge right into the constitutional analysis without pausing to determine whether, and to what extent, a fair construction of the statute would protect Time’s legitimate interests and also avoid the unnecessary adjudication of constitutional questions. Most of the Treasury Department’s criticism of Time’s use of pictures of currency—and I believe all of its criticism of black and white reproductions—stemmed from what I regard as an incorrect reading of the word “newsworthy” in §504(1). Although I recognize that the Government has not been consistent in its reading of that word, any ambiguity could readily have been eliminated by a declaratory judgment construing the term.
Time, however, did not ask the District Court or this Court for a favorable construction of the statute. Instead, as is the current fashion in First Amendment litigation, cf. United States v. Grace, 461 U. S. 171 (1983), it asks this Court to adopt the most confusing and constitutionally questionable interpretation of the statute that it could in order to fortify its constitutional challenge.
I
Plainly there is no need to rely on the “overbreadth” doctrine to support Time’s standing to challenge the constitutionality of this statute. Time is a publisher of widely circulated news magazines. The record makes it perfectly clear that the statute impairs its ability to communicate with the public by using some illustrations that include small, but colorful reproductions of currency. There can be no doubt *694concerning appellee’s standing to challenge the statute’s requirement that pictures of money may not use any color except black and white and must be either less than three-fourths or more than one and a half times the size of actual bills or coins. Time’s own First Amendment rights are clearly implicated.
It is clear to me that Time’s problems with this statute are not exacerbated in the slightest by the fact that the exception from its blanket prohibition is limited by a “purpose” requirement and a “publications” requirement or, as Justice Brennan argues, a single requirement that merges both concepts. Under a proper construction of this provision, any picture of money that Time will disseminate would qualify as “newsworthy” — and thus satisfy the purpose requirement — as well as being contained in a “magazine” — and thus satisfy the publications requirement. Thus, to evaluate the constitutionality of the color and size restrictions as they affect Time, it is wholly unnecessary to consider the significance of either the publications or the purpose requirement for parties who are not before the Court. Cf. Metromedia, Inc. v. San Diego, 453 U. S. 490, 542-548 (1981) (Stevens, J., dissenting in part); see also ante, at 649-652 (opinion of White, J.). In short, while the statute might not have accommodated adequately the First Amendment rights of all individuals, if it has successfully avoided abridging Time’s freedom of speech or press through the exception, Time has no stake in championing the rights of third parties regarding these issues.
II
When §474 was adopted, it probably occurred to no one that the statute limited legitimate communication. The post-Civil War Congress that enacted §474 presumed that anyone printing or photographing likenesses of the currency was up to no good. The use of images of the currency for legitimate, communicative purposes was probably too eso*695teric to be deemed significant or realistic in the 19th century, and it was of the utmost concern to assure the integrity and value of the greenback — itself under attack on constitutional grounds as being inherently worthless and not suitable as legal tender, see The Legal Tender Cases, 12 Wall. 457 (1871) (overruling Hepburn v. Griswold, 8 Wall. 603 (1870)).
Section 474, to the extent it prohibits expression at all, does so only inadvertently and incidently. The object of § 474 is plain and has nothing whatever to do with suppressing dissemination of ideas on the basis of content or anything else. The prohibition plainly is not “aimed at any restraint of freedom of speech . . . .” Cox v. New Hampshire, 312 U. S. 569, 578 (1941). It dedicates the image Congress selected for our currency to the use for which it is lawfully intended and prohibits all others from making likenesses of that image. Section 474 itself does not turn on the content or subject matter of the message a speaker might wish to convey; it serves a significant governmental interest; and it leaves open alternative channels for communication of the information. It is subject to attack on the grounds that it serves the governmental interest too imprecisely to justify the incidental effect on communication. In short, § 474 is a restriction on the manner of expression, and if it would suffer from any constitutional infirmity, presumably it would be on the ground that it is “overbroad.”
This provision stood on the books for nearly a century without modification or challenge, but as the decades passed, and the instruments of mass communication multiplied and became more sophisticated, free expression clashed with § 474. The familiar image of United States currency became a powerful symbol, to the point of perhaps becoming somewhat of a modern icon. So embedded is the freedom of speech and of the press in our governmental institutions that with no overt suggestion of a constitutional infirmity in § 474, the Treasury Department adopted the practice, without evident statutory authority, of making exceptions from the *696broad prohibition in the interest of free expression on a case-by-case basis.
Section 504 is Congress’ attempt to narrow whatever “overbreadth” infects § 474: Congress sought to accommodate the interests in using the symbol of the currency for free expression in the marketplace of ideas. Important as its symbolic value is, however, communication is of course not the primary purpose of the image — its primary purpose is its use in exchange transactions. A core governmental function is implicated in this case, and the compelling nature of the Government’s interest is demonstrated by the fact that Art. I, § 8, cl. 6, of the Constitution expressly empowers Congress “[t]o provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States.” The dispute in this case is not over the strength of the governmental interest, but rather the extent to which it is served by the specific provision in question. In my view, however, a statute which implicates a particularly strong governmental interest need not serve that interest to the same degree to withstand constitutional scrutiny as it would if the interest were weaker. Similarly, the effectuation of that interest need not be perfect, or nearly so, if the intrusion on expression is minimal.
Congress’ attempt to reconcile the competing interests, and to eliminate possibly impermissible applications of § 474, is entitled to great respect. When Congress legislates exceptions to a general prohibition to accommodate First Amendment interests, we should not adopt a grudging interpretation of the exceptions, but should liberally construe them to effectuate their remedial purposes. Congress adopted the exception in the spirit of the First Amendment; courts should construe them in the same fashion. There is a presumption in favor of the constitutionality of an Act of Congress. See, e. g., Rostker v. Goldberg, 453 U. S. 57, 64 (1981). This presumption should be particularly salient regarding a statutory scheme which on its face goes far in accommodating the interests of free expression at stake *697in a statutory scheme legitimately directed at a serious substantive evil.
Generally, of course, we construe Acts of Congress to avoid constitutional questions. See, e. g., United States v. Clark, 445 U. S. 23, 27 (1980). This maxim of construction is not merely based on a desire to avoid premature adjudication of constitutional issues. Like others, the maxim also reflects a judicial presumption concerning the intent of the draftsmen of the language in question. In areas where legislation might intrude on constitutional guarantees, we believe that Congress, which also has sworn to protect the Constitution, would intend to err on the side of fundamental constitutional liberties when its legislation implicates those liberties.
In this case, this belief is no mere presumption. Congress recognized, as had the Executive Branch for years, the expressive value of the image of the currency and determined that § 474 undermined such expression, sweeping within its prohibition identifiable, legitimate uses of the image. In §504, Congress sought to excise the surplusage from the broad prohibition of §474 to ameliorate the overbreadth of that provision. Appellee does not attack §504 as overbroad — it argues that it is not broad enough. Stated another way, appellee contends that the impermissible applications of §474, even with the large exception carved out by § 504, dwarf the permissible applications.
Appellee maintains that Congress failed in its attempt to accommodate First Amendment interests. Specifically, it attacks the purposes requirement and essentially contends that it has a First Amendment right to take color photographs of United States currency so long as the specific pictures it publishes cannot be passed off as the real thing.
Ill

Purposes Requirement

The Court devotes little attention to the constitutionality of the purposes requirement, brushing aside this attempt by Congress to reconcile the interest in free expression with re*698spect to images of the currency with the interest in protecting the integrity of that image for its primary purpose. In a paragraph, we are simply told that a determination of newsworthiness or educational value of an image of the currency must be based on the content of the message and that the Government will determine if that message is newsworthy in determining the applicability of the exception. Then the Court makes the sweeping statement that regulations permitting the Government to discriminate on the basis of content are per se violative of the First Amendment.1
I do not interpret the provision to give the Government a license to determine the newsworthiness or the value of the substantive message being conveyed. Rather, giving it the liberal construction I think it deserves, the question is merely whether the image of the currency is used for such a purpose, or stated another way, whether the image is being *699used to convey information or express an idea.2 That requirement is easily met — whenever the image is used in connection with a news article, it necessarily will comply with this condition unless the editor’s use of the image bears no rational relationship to the information or idea he is trying to convey.3 The key point is that he must be attempting to *700communicate: he must be using the symbol as expression protected by the First Amendment, and not merely reproducing images of the currency for some noncommunicative purpose, e. g., to facilitate counterfeiting.4

Color and Size Requirements

With respect to the cover illustrations contained in the record in this case, it would appear that Time’s interest is in reproducing realistic illustrations of the currency, and the more realistic the illustration, the more effective the commu*701nication. However, the very heart of the Government’s interest grows stronger the more realistic the illustration is. Stated another way, Time does not want to use illustrations of the currency which plainly appear spurious; the Government’s precise legitimate interest is to permit only those illustrations which do plainly appear spurious. Time notes that one of these pictures may be worth a thousand words; the Government notes one of these pictures or negatives may be worth a thousand dollars.
Time particularly objects to the color requirement — it wants to print pictures of money in its actual color.5 Time’s communicative interest in printing pictures of the currency in color seems weak.6 We are not told that use of the actual *702color of the currency expresses an idea itself, aside from communicating information about the color of the currency. But that is not necessary to communicate the substantive ideas Time is attempting to convey, any more than the size of the bill must be communicated by showing its actual size. The use of the bill’s actual color adds little if anything to the message, particularly because the currency itself is not especially colorful.
A reproduction which meets the size requirements, to be sure, advances the Government interest in preventing deception, but the color requirement advances the interest as well, in a manner that is independent of the size requirement. Imposing both requirements reduces the likelihood of the evil Congress legitimately desired to prevent to a greater extent than imposing just one of the requirements.
To argue, as does Time, that the color requirement is invalid would invalidate the size requirement as well. Time argues that the color requirement is invalid because some of its covers violate the color requirement and yet “none of them has the remotest capacity for deception or could otherwise be used to make a counterfeit.” Brief for Appellee 43. The same argument could be made if the covers violated the size requirement. The reasons Time points to in arguing that its covers pose no real risk as instruments for fraud— such factors as the kind of paper used for its covers, and the fact that images of the bills are partially obscured or distorted — would be equally applicable if Time violated both the color and size requirements. The point is that whatever capacity the covers have as instruments of deception is *703necessarily enhanced if the bill is shown in its actual color, just as it is enhanced if the bill is reproduced in its actual size.
Moreover, Time all but ignores the potential variety of ways in which a negative could be used for illegitimate purposes. The size requirement is meaningless, or always met, with respect to a negative. The point, of course, is that a negative that makes a print meeting the size requirement can also make a print the exact size of a bill. If it is a black and white negative, all that can be produced is a black and white reproduction of the bill; if it is a color negative, a color reproduction may be made. The fact that the bill is partially obscured in the photographs or even in the negatives is not dispositive; the statute prohibits making color photographs of even parts of bills for a reason.7
The statute at issue in this case is but one part of a comprehensive scheme to be sure; but that cannot render it susceptible to invalidation on the ground that the other portions of the scheme largely meet the governmental interest. The fact that there are other statutes available to punish counterfeiters does not negate the Government’s interest here; Congress may provide “alternative statutory avenues of prosecution to assure the effective protection of one and the same interest.” United States v. O’Brien, 391 U. S. 367, 380 *704(1968). This statute protects the gullible as well as the shrewd, and the Government need not wait until near perfect forgeries are rolling off the presses to act.
In conclusion, this statute is one weapon in an arsenal designed to deprive would-be counterfeiters and defrauders of the tools of deception and, given the strength of the state interest and the presumption of constitutionality which attaches to an Act of Congress, I believe the color and size requirements are permissible methods of minimizing the risk of fraud as well as counterfeiting, and can have only a minimal impact on Time's ability to communicate effectively.
It may well be, as Time argues, that “Congress can do a much better job in preventing counterfeiting than the present §474 and §504,” Brief for Appellee 46. The question for us, of course, is not whether Congress could have done a better job, but whether the job it did violates Time’s right to free expression. It does not: Time is free to publish the symbol it wishes to publish and to express the messages it wishes to convey by use of that symbol; it merely must comply with restrictions on the manner of printing that symbol which are reasonably related to the strong governmental interests in preventing counterfeiting and deceptive uses of likenesses of the currency.
Accordingly, I concur in the judgment of the Court in part, and dissent in part.

 The Court makes the following statement: “Regulations which permit the Government to discriminate on the basis of the content of the message cannot be tolerated under the First Amendment.” Ante, at 648-649. The Court’s summary invalidation of the purposes requirement on the basis of this sweeping statement is particularly disturbing in light of the fact that Congress employed quite similar language in striking a similar balance between free expression and a governmental interest under the Copyright Act. Pursuant to the express authority of Art. I, § 8, of the Constitution, Congress established a copyright which generally vests the exclusive right to reproduce original works with the author of the work. 17 U. S. C. § 106. One who infringes that right by reproducing the work, see § 501(a), is subject to criminal prosecution, see §506. This broad prohibition, however, is qualified. Individuals may make a “fair use” of the copyrighted works “for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching . . . , scholarship, or research . . . .” § 107.
To my knowledge, it has never been seriously suggested that the fair use provision of the Copyright Act is violative of the First Amendment because it allows governmental authorities to make decisions on the basis of content. Indeed, we have recognized the interests in free expression that the fair use provision was intended to serve. See generally Sony Corp. v. Universal City Studios, Inc., 464 U. S. 417, 445-446, and n. 27, 450-451, 454-455, and n. 40 (1984). If the broad language of today’s opinion were to be applied literally, perhaps this provision would be highly suspect.

 Cf. Schacht v. United States, 398 U. S. 58, 61-62, n. 3 (1970) (interpreting exception from statute making it a crime for a civilian to wear a United States military uniform for “an actor in a theatrical or motion-picture production” to be applicable to a protester in a dramatic street demonstration).

 The legislative history is consistent with my view that Congress, by use of the term'“newsworthy,” simply intended to exempt pictures of the currency used in connection with articles in publications. The House and Senate Committee Reports, quoted by Justice White, stated that “ ‘[njewspapers quite often publish pictures of paper money or checks in connection with news articles,’” ante, at 655, n. 10 (citations omitted), and plainly that connection was deemed sufficient by the Congress to invoke the exemption.
Time’s analysis of this statement in the legislative history is typical of its approach to this litigation. Incredibly, Time asserts that the need of members of the press to report the news was “[c]uriously absent” from the list of legitimate purposes set forth in the Committee Reports, interpreting the language quoted as a mere passing observation. Brief for Appellee 8, n. 10. Time thus asks this Court to ignore the plain import of the language of the statute and the legislative history — language which was plainly intended to benefit publications such as Time — and actually argues for a construction against its interest.
The history of § 504 makes it rather clear that Congress intended to exempt uses of pictures of money that serve a legitimate purpose and that pose no significant threat of counterfeiting or fraud. The democratic process through which § 504 was crafted resulted in a list, expanded from time to time, of exempted uses largely coterminous with the legitimate uses that actual experience demonstrated were substantial. The fact that § 504 is not still broader is attributable in part to the fact that experience did not demonstrate a substantial need for any other exceptions. This is an apt case for remembering the words of Justice Holmes: “Great constitutional provisions must be administered with caution. Some play must be allowed for the joints of the machine, and it must be remembered that legislatures are ultimate guardians of the liberties and welfare of the people in quite as *700great a degree as the courts.” Missouri, K. & T. R. Co. v. May, 194 U. S. 267, 270 (1904).
It seems clear to me that a fair interpretation of the scope of § 504 will involve substantially all legitimate uses of reproductions of currency and exclude those that are illegitimate. Moreover, the purpose request itself surely makes sense. If a Treasury agent finds a printer with negatives of currency in his possession, an inquiry is appropriate to determine the purpose those negatives were intended to serve.
Justice Brennan is critical of my construction of the “purposes” requirement of § 504 which draws a broad distinction between legitimate and illegitimate uses of reproductions of currency. He seems to think that reading the word “newsworthy” to mean “newsworthy” is “judicial rewriting” and that it “ ‘pervertís] the purpose’ ” of § 504 to construe it to exempt legitimate uses that had been called to the attention of Congress or the Treasury Department before it was enacted. See ante, at 663-664, n. 1. With all due respect, I suggest that Justice Brennan has accepted Time's invitation to plunge headlong into the alluring waters of constitutional analysis. He construes the crucial language in the light most unfavorable to Time with an eye toward a still larger constitutional plum on the horizon — § 474 itself, which when § 504 is invalidated, is then ironically subject to attack either on overbreadth grounds or inseverability grounds.

 However, if the idea to be conveyed is to advocate counterfeiting, e. g., the publication of a counterfeiting manual, and the speech presents a clear and present danger of bringing about that substantive evil, the speech is unprotected under the First Amendment.
Time, it should be noted, expresses no interest in simply printing pictures of money unconnected with any message; and hence we need not decide whether the unadorned photograph of a dollar bill, expressing no other message than “this is a dollar bill,” would be covered by the exception.
I should note that because I believe the purposes requirement does not offend the First Amendment, I do not reach any severability issue.

 A color other than the actual color, or one similar to it, might be communicative under some circumstances, but the record does not indicate that Time has any interest in using other colors. Time may argue, however, that the black and white requirement is overbroad on the ground that it is irrational as applied to any color other than a color similar to the actual color of the currency. But the legitimate sweep of the statute dwarfs its arguably impermissible applications because it seems quite plain that ordinarily it is the actual color which would be selected most often. This conclusion is supported not only by the record in this case, but by common sense as well.
Time, it should be noted, argues that in most cases the expressive quality of illustrations of the currency derives principally from artistic interpretation and distortion of the image, and therefore states that “an actual-size, true-color, unembellished picture of a dollar bill ... is of little use to Time’s journalists.” Brief for Appellee 3. If that is true, Time seems to be conceding it has little interest in challenging the color and size limitations, or stated another way, the color and size limitations have a de minimis impact on its ability to communicate effectively.

 The front of United States currency is not very colorful in any event. Aside from the serial numbers and the Seal of the Department of the Treasury, which are a rather vivid green, the rest of the image borders on being black and white itself. The difference between printing a black and white image of it and and color image of it would have a de minimis impact on the value of the image for communicative purposes, compare App. 17 (black and white likeness of a thousand dollar bill) with an actual one dollar bill, but would have a significant impact on the value of the image for fraudulent or deceptive purposes. While it may be that only the most gullible *702among us — those who might indeed take a proverbial wooden nickel — could possibly be duped into accepting a cutout from a Time magazine cover as the genuine article even if it were the same size and same color as a thousand dollar bill, since it is on a different kind of paper and is printed on only one side, Congress apparently thought that the existence of the negatives and color plates pose a real threat of counterfeiting.

 If the numerals on the bill are not obscured, for example, a color negative of that bill could be used to reproduce copies of those numerals in the correct size and in color on paper resembling that used in real currency and then affixed to a lower denomination bill, airbrushing the borderlines to complete the deceptive instrument. Moreover, it is no answer to say that for any given photograph used in preparing any given cover, all of the corners are not shown, as they are, for example, in the hundred dollar bills shown in Exhibit F to the complaint, App. 23. All of the numerals may not be necessary for perpetrating a fraud; and the patient counterfeiter or con-artist in the printshop may bide his time, making prints from the negatives as they become available. It is no answer to say that the criminal would do better to take his own color photographs, see ante, at 688-690, n. 27, for in doing so he would be violating this statute.