Court Opinion

ID: 9426013
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:16:27.998046+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:22:58.567064
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice Douglas,
dissenting.
With all respect, I do not believe that this case has become moot — certainly not for the reasons intimated by the Court. The First Amendment provides that Congress shall malee no law abridging the freedom of the press. It is to me shocking that a radio station or a newspaper can be regulated by a court or by a commission, to the extent of being prevented from publishing any item of “news” of the day. So to hold would be a prior restraint of a simple and unadulterated form, barred by constitutional principles. Can anyone doubt that the winner of a lottery is prime news by our press standards?
In our history, Congress has shown at times an appetite for performing the judicial function of finding people guilty. That is the reason why the Constitution contains Art. I, § 9, cl. 3, which outlaws bills of attainder. See United States v. Brown, 381 U. S. 437 (1965); United States v. Lovett, 328 U. S. 303 (1946). For Congress to hold that the radio station in the present case was or was not guilty of violating 18 U. S. C. § 1304 would be a flagrant usurpation of Art. Ill functions.
Our decision should rest not on what Congress has done but on the merits of the controversy, which do not seem to me to be substantial. I would not presume that Congress undertook to pass on the merits of the claim at *375issue before us.* I would not remand for consideration of the issue of mootness. To me it is manifest that the case is not moot and that the judgment below should be affirmed.

As the State of New Hampshire points out, the new § 1307 even on its face does not resolve the claims of all parties to this action. New Hampshire, which was granted leave to intervene in the Court of Appeals, conducts a lottery; neighboring Vermont does not. Title 18 U. S. C. § 1307 (a) (2) (1970 ed., Supp. IV), upon which the Court relies, applies only to broadcasts by a station in the State which conducts the lottery, or in an adjacent State which also conducts a lottery; presumably, then, § 1304 remains applicable to a Vermont radio station which desires to broadcast information concerning the New Hampshire lottery. The restraint imposed by -§ 1304 will thus continue to inhibit the New Hampshire lottery with 'respect to certain groups of prospective participants, including New Hampshire residents who listen to Vermont radio stations and Vermont residents who might wish to cross the state line and participate.