Court Opinion

ID: 9430524
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:29:56.350385+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:23:24.825598
License: Public Domain

Justice Blackmun,
with whom Justice Marshall and Justice O’Connor join,
concurring.
I join the Court’s opinion on the understanding that it leaves open the question of the proper standard for judging First Amendment challenges to a municipality’s restriction of access to cable facilities. Different communications media are treated differently for First Amendment purposes. Compare, e. g., Miami Herald Publishing Co. v. Tornillo, 418 U. S. 241 (1974), with FCC v. League of Women Voters of California, 468 U. S. 364, 380 (1984). In assessing First Amendment claims concerning cable access, the Court must determine whether the characteristics of cable television make it sufficiently analogous to another medium to warrant application of an already existing standard or whether those characteristics require a new analysis. As this case arises out of a motion to dismiss, we lack factual information about the nature of cable television. Recognizing these consider*497ations, ante, at 493-494, the Court does not attempt to choose or justify any particular standard. It simply concludes that, in challenging Los Angeles’ policy of exclusivity in cable franchising, respondent alleges a cognizable First Amendment claim.