United States and Federal Communications Commission v. Edge Broadcasting Company T/a Power 94 (509 U.S. 418)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 25, 1993 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 509 U.S. 418 · 113 S. Ct. 2696
- Decided
- June 25, 1993
- Term
- October Term 1992
- Vote
- 7–2
- Majority author
- Justice White
- Issue area
- First Amendment
- Disposition
- Reversed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Justice White delivered the opinion of the Court, except as to Part III-D. In this case we must decide whether federal statutes that prohibit the broadcast of lottery advertising by a broadcaster licensed to a State that does not allow lotteries, while allowing such broadcasting by a broadcaster licensed to a State that sponsors a lottery, are, as applied to respondent, consistent with the First Amendment. I While lotteries have existed in this country since its founding, States have long viewed them as a hazard to their citizens and to the public interest, and have long engaged in legislative efforts to control this form of gambling. Congress has, since the early 19th century, sought to assist the States in controlling lotteries. See, e. g., Act of Mar. 2,1827, §6, 4 Stat. 238; Act of July 27,1868, § 13,15 Stat. 196; Act of June 8, 1872, §149, 17 Stat. 302. In 1876, Congress made it a crime to deposit in the mails any letters or circulars concerning lotteries, whether illegal or chartered by state legislatures. See Act of July 12, 1876, ch. 186, § 2, 19 Stat. 90, codified at Rev. Stat. §3894 (2d ed. 1878). This Court rejected a challenge to the 1876 Act on First Amendment grounds in Ex parte Jackson, 96 U. S. 727 (1878). In response to the persistence of lotteries, particularly the Louisiana Lottery, Congress closed a loophole allowing the advertisement of lotteries in…
Excerpt of a 30,289-character opinion. The full text and citation network load in the interactive viewer above.