Court Opinion

ID: 9433833
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:41:26.961606+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:23:44.258293
License: Public Domain

Chief Justice Rehnquist,
concurring.
Title 18 U. S. C. § 1304 regulates broadcast advertising of lotteries and casino gambling. I agree with the Court that “[t]he operation of § 1304 and its attendant regulatory regime is so pierced by exemptions and inconsistencies,” ante, at 190, that it violates the First Amendment. But, as the Court observes:
“There surely are practical and nonspeeeh-related forms of regulation — including a prohibition or supervision of gambling on credit; limitations on the use of cash machines on casino premises; controls on admissions; pot or betting limits; location restrictions; and licensing requirements — that could more directly and effectively alleviate some of the social costs of casino gambling.” Ante, at 192.
Were Congress to undertake substantive regulation of the gambling industry, rather than simply the manner in which it may broadcast advertisements, “exemptions and inconsistencies” such as those in § 1304 might well prove constitutionally tolerable. “The problem of legislative classification is a perennial one, admitting of no doctrinaire definition. Evils in the same field may be of different dimensions and proportions, requiring different remedies. Or so the legislature may think. Or the reform may take one step at a time, addressing itself to the phase of the problem which seems most acute to the legislative mind. The legislature may select one phase of one field and apply a remedy there, neglecting the others.” Williamson v. Lee Optical of Okla., Inc., 348 U. S. 483, 489 (1955) (citations omitted).
But when Congress regulates commercial speech, the Central Hudson test imposes a more demanding standard *197of review. I agree with the Court that that standard has not been met here, and I join its opinion.