Court Opinion

ID: 9714853
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 05:47:08.319968+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:29.033157
License: Public Domain

MURRAY, Justice
dissenting.
I am in consonance with the views expressed by my brother Weisberger. My dissent briefly articulates a response to the majority’s proposition which, in my view, places the burden of proof on the inappropriate party. In Bolger v. Youngs Drug Products Corp., 463 U.S. 60, 103 S.Ct. 2875, 77 L.Ed.2d 469 (1983), the United States Supreme Court cited Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corp. v. Public Service Commission of New York, 447 U.S. 557, 100 S.Ct. 2343, 65 L.Ed.2d 341 (1980), the case principally relied upon by the majority, for the proposition that “[t]he party seeking to uphold a restriction on commercial speech carries the burden of justifying it." (Emphasis added.) Bolger, 463 U.S. at 71 n. 20, 103 S.Ct. at 2882 n. 20, 77 L.Ed.2d at 480, n. 20 (also citing Linmark Associates, Inc. v. Township of Willingboro, 431 U.S. 85, 97 S.Ct. 1614, 52 L.Ed.2d 155 (1977)). Succinctly, and for the reasons amply documented in the majority opinion, the Rhode Island Liquor Stores Association has not satisfied this burden. The record is devoid of evidence which indicates that G.L. 1956 (1976 Reenactment) § 3-8-8.1 furthers the state’s purported goal of encouraging temperance.10
*343Further, I am unpersuaded by the argument that the Twenty-first Amendment acts to shift the burden of justification from those who would suppress truthful commercial speech to those who would engage in such speech simply because the speech involves an area in which the state has broad regulatory powers. See Hostetter v. Idlewild Bon Voyage Liquor Corp., 377 U.S. 324, 84 S.Ct. 1293, 12 L.Ed.2d 350 (1964). Those powers provide the authority for regulation of traffic in liquor. It is my considered opinion that they do not provide the justification for individual acts of regulation, especially when such regulation suppresses truthful and nonmisleading commercial speech. Such justification can only be established by evidentiary facts, none of which appear in the record before us.
I would hold that § 3-8-8.1 is an unconstitutional restraint on the freedom of speech as guaranteed by the First and Fourteenth amendments. I must therefore respectfully dissent from the majority opinion.

. I feel constrained to comment on the rather odd alignments that have developed in this case and which have thus far been ignored. Why does plaintiff, an organization whose members earn their livelihood through the retail sale of intoxicating beverages, seek to enforce a statute that discourages the retail sale of those very same intoxicating beverages? I think the answer to this question goes to the heart of the issue of whether G.L. 1956 (1976 Reenactment) § 3-8-8.1 does in fact further the state’s purported goal of "promoting temperance” (which really means "discouraging the retail sales of intoxicating beverages”). Given the record before this court, and my conclusion that the burden of proof lies with plaintiff, I can only conclude that § 3-8-8.1 affects patterns of consumption, not volume of consumption. The Rhode Island Liquor Stores Association is concerned, and understandably so, that the advertisements at issue in this case are costing its members customers. The underlying motives of this case have nothing to do with the “promotion of temperance” among Rhode Island citizens, but rather with the promotion of price ignorance. The "plaintiff seeks to retain its members' market share by withholding price information from Rhode Island citizens. I am inclined to "view as dubious any justification [for the suppression of commercial speech] that is based on the benefits of public ignorance.” Bates v. State Bar of Arizona, 433 U.S. 350, 375, *34397 S.Ct. 2691, 2704, 53 L.Ed.2d 810, 830 (1977) (citing Virginia State Board of Pharmacy v. Virginia Citizens Consumer Council, Inc., 425 U.S. 748, 96 S.Ct. 1817, 48 L.Ed.2d 346 (1976)). Given the present factual setting and alignment of parties, I am even more dubious of the statute's purported justification.