44 LIQUORMART, INC. v. RHODE ISLAND(1996)

No. 94-1140

Argued: November 1, 1995Decided: May 13, 1996

Petitioners, a licensed Rhode Island liquor retailer and a licensed Massachusetts liquor retailer patronized by Rhode Island residents, filed this action seeking a declaratory judgment that Rhode Island laws banning the advertisement of retail liquor prices except at the place of sale violate the First Amendment. In concluding that the ban was unconstitutional because it did not directly advance the State’s asserted interest in the promotion of temperance and was more extensive than necessary to serve that interest, the District Court reasoned that the party seeking to uphold a restriction on commercial speech carries the burden of justifying it and that the Twenty-first Amendment did not shift or diminish that burden. In reversing, the Court of Appeals, inter alia, found “inherent merit” in the State’s submission that competitive price advertising would ultimately increase sales, and agreed with it that the Twenty-first Amendment gave its advertising ban an added presumption of validity.

Held:

The judgment is reversed.

39 F.3d 5, reversed.

JUSTICE STEVENS delivered the opinion of the Court with respect to Parts I, II, VII, and VIII, concluding:

1. The Twenty-first Amendment cannot save Rhode Island’s price advertising ban because that Amendment does not qualify the First Amendment’s prohibition against laws abridging the freedom of speech. Although the Twenty-first Amendment – which repealed Prohibition and gave the States the power to prohibit commerce in, or the use of, alcoholic beverages – limits the dormant Commerce Clause’s effect on a State’s regulatory power over the delivery or use of liquor within its borders, the Amendment does not license the States to ignore their obligations under other constitutional provisions. See, e.g., Capital Cities Cable, Inc. v. Page II Crisp, 467 U.S. 691, 712 . California v. LaRue, 409 U.S. 109, 118 -119, disavowed. Because the First Amendment must be included among those other provisions, the Twenty-first Amendment does not shield the advertising ban from constitutional scrutiny. Pp. 28-30.

2. Because Rhode Island has failed to carry its heavy burden of justifying its complete ban on price advertising, that ban is invalid. P. 31.

JUSTICE STEVENS delivered the principal opinion with respect to Parts III-VI, concluding that Rhode Island’s ban on advertisements that provide the public with accurate information about retail liquor prices is an unconstitutional abridgment of the freedom of speech. Pp. 8-28.

(a) JUSTICE STEVENS, joined by JUSTICE KENNEDY, JUSTICE SOUTER, and JUSTICE GINSBURG, concluded in Part III that although the First Amendment protects the dissemination of truthful and nonmisleading commercial messages about lawful products and services in order to ensure that consumers receive accurate information, see, e.g., Virginia Bd. of Pharmacy v. Virginia Citizens Consumer Council, Inc., 425 U.S. 748, 765 , the special nature of commercial speech, including its “greater objectivity” and “greater hardiness,” authorizes the State to regulate potentially deceptive or overreaching advertising more freely than other forms of protected speech, see, e.g., id., at 771-772, n. 24, and requires less than strict review of such regulations, Central Hudson Gas & Elec. Corp. v. Public Serv. Comm’n of N. Y., 447 U.S. 557, 566 , n. 9. However, regulations that entirely suppress commercial speech in order to pursue a policy not related to consumer protection must be reviewed with “special care,” and such blanket bans should not be approved unless the speech itself was flawed in some way, either because it was deceptive or related to unlawful activity. See ibid. Pp. 8-13.

(b) JUSTICE STEVENS, joined by JUSTICE KENNEDY and JUSTICE GINSBURG, concluded in Part IV that a review of the case law reveals that commercial speech regulations are not all subject to a similar form of constitutional review simply because they target a similar category of expression. When a State regulates commercial messages to protect consumers from misleading, deceptive, or aggressive sales practices, or requires the disclosure of beneficial consumer information, the regulation’s purpose is consistent with the reasons for according constitutional protection to commercial speech and therefore justifies less than strict review. However, where a State entirely prohibits the dissemination of truthful, nonmisleading commercial messages for reasons unrelated to the preservation of a fair bargaining process, there is far less reason to depart from the rigorous review that the First Amendment generally demands. The special dangers that attend such complete bans – including, most obviously, the fact that they all but foreclose alternative channels of communication – present sound reasons that justify more careful review. Pp. 14-17.

(c) JUSTICE STEVENS, joined by JUSTICE KENNEDY, JUSTICE SOUTER, Page III and JUSTICE GINSBURG, concluded in Part V that because Rhode Island’s advertising ban constitutes a blanket prohibition against truthful, nonmisleading speech about a lawful product, and serves an end unrelated to consumer protection, it must be reviewed with “special care” under Central Hudson, 447 U.S., at 566 , n. 9. It cannot survive that review because it does not satisfy even the less than strict standard that generally applies in commercial speech cases under Central Hudson, id., at 566. First, the advertising ban does not directly advance the State’s substantial interest in promoting temperance. See ibid. Because a commercial speech regulation may not be sustained if it provides only ineffective or remote support for the government’s purpose, id., at 564, the State bears the burden of showing not merely that its regulation will advance its interest, but also that it will do so “to a material degree,” see, e.g., Edenfield v. Fane, 507 U.S. 761, 767 . In this case, therefore, the State must show that the ban will significantly reduce alcohol consumption, but has presented no evidence to suggest a significant reduction. Second, the ban is more extensive than necessary to serve its stated interest, see 447 U.S., at 566 , since alternative forms of regulation that would not involve any speech restrictions – e.g., the maintenance of higher prices either by direct regulation or by increased taxation, the rationing of per capita purchases, or the use of educational campaigns focused on drinking problems – would be more likely to achieve the goal of promoting temperance. Thus, the State has failed to establish the requisite “reasonable fit” between its regulation and its goal. See, e.g., Board of Trustees, State Univ. of N.Y. v. Fox, 492 U.S. 469, 480 . Pp. 17-21.

(d) JUSTICE STEVENS, joined by JUSTICE KENNEDY, JUSTICE THOMAS, and JUSTICE GINSBURG, concluded in Part VI that the State’s arguments in support of its claim that it merely exercised appropriate “legislative judgment” in determining that a price advertising ban would best promote temperance – i.e., (1) that because expert opinions as to the effectiveness of the ban “go both ways,” the Court of Appeals correctly concluded that the ban constituted a “reasonable choice” by the legislature; (2) that precedent requires that particular deference be accorded that legislative choice because the State could, if it chose, ban the sale of alcoholic beverages outright; and (3) that deference is appropriate because alcoholic beverages are so-called “vice” products – must be rejected. See Rubin, 514 U.S., at ___, n. 2. United States v. Edge Broadcasting, 509 U.S. 418 , distinguished; Posadas de Puerto Rico Associates v. Tourism Co. of P. R., 478 U.S. 328 , distinguished and disavowed in part. Pp. 22-28.

JUSTICE SCALIA concluded that guidance as to what the First Amendment forbids, where the core offense of suppressing particular political ideas is not at issue, must be taken from the long accepted practices of the American people. See McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission, 514 U.S. ___, ___ (SCALIA, J., dissenting). Since, however, the Court has before it no evidence as to state legislative practices regarding regulation of commercial Page IV speech when the First and Fourteenth Amendments were adopted, or even as to any national consensus on the subject later developed, he would simply adhere to the Court’s existing jurisprudence, which renders the Rhode Island regulation invalid. Pp. 1-2.

JUSTICE THOMAS concluded that in cases such as this, in which the government’s asserted interest is to keep legal users of a product or service ignorant in order to manipulate their choices in the marketplace, the Central Hudson balancing test should not be applied. Rather, such an “interest” is per se illegitimate, cf., e.g., Virginia Bd. of Pharmacy v. Virginia Citizens Consumer Council, Inc., 425 U.S. 748, 768 -770, and can no more justify regulation of “commercial” speech than it can justify regulation of “noncommercial” speech. Pp. 1-12.

JUSTICE O’CONNOR, joined by THE CHIEF JUSTICE, JUSTICE SOUTER, and JUSTICE BREYER, agreed with the principal opinion that Rhode Island’s prohibition on alcohol-price advertising is invalid and cannot be saved by the Twenty-first Amendment, but concluded that the First Amendment question must be resolved more narrowly by applying the test established in Central Hudson Gas & Elec. Corp. v. Public Serv. Comm’n of N. Y., 47 U.S. 557, 566. Assuming that the prohibition satisfies the test’s first three prongs i.e., that (1) the speech at issue concerns lawful activity and is not misleading, (2) the asserted governmental interest is substantial, and (3) the regulation directly advances the governmental interest – Rhode Island’s regulation fails the final fourth prong because its ban is more extensive than necessary to serve its stated interest. Rhode Island justifies its ban on price advertising on the grounds that the ban is intended to keep alcohol prices high as a way to keep consumption low. In order for a speech restriction to pass muster under the fourth prong, there must be a reasonable fit between the legislature’s goal and method. Board of Trustees of State Univ. of N. Y. v. Fox, 492 U.S. 469, 480 . The fit here is not reasonable, since the State has other methods at its disposal – e.g., establishing minimum prices and/or increasing sales taxes on alcoholic beverages – that would more directly accomplish its stated goal without intruding on sellers’ ability to provide truthful, nonmisleading information to customers. Posadas de Puerto Rico Associates v. Tourism Co. of P. R., 478 U.S. 328, 341 -344, distinguished. The principal opinion errs in adopting a new analysis for the evaluation of commercial speech regulation. Pp. 1-7.

STEVENS, J., announced the judgment of the Court, and delivered the opinion of the Court with respects to Parts I, II, and VII, in which SCALIA, KENNEDY, SOUTER, THOMAS, and GINSBURG, JJ., joined, the opinion of the Court with respect to Part VIII, in which SCALIA, KENNEDY, SOUTER, and GINSBURG, JJ., joined, an opinion with respect to Parts III and V, in which KENNEDY, SOUTER, and GINSBURG, JJ., joined, an opinion with respect to Part VI, in which KENNEDY, THOMAS, and GINSBURG, JJ., joined, and an opinion Page V with respect to Part IV, in which KENNEDY and GINSBURG, JJ., joined. SCALIA, J., and THOMAS, J., filed opinions concurring in part and concurring in the judgment. O’CONNOR, J., filed an opinion concurring in the judgment, in which REHNQUIST, C.J., and SOUTER and BREYER, JJ., joined. [ 44 LIQUORMART, INC. v. RHODE ISLAND, ___ U.S. ___ (1996) , 1]

JUSTICE STEVENS announced the judgment of the Court and delivered the opinion of the Court with respect to Parts I, II, VII, and VIII, an opinion with respect to Parts III and V, in which JUSTICE KENNEDY, JUSTICE SOUTER, and JUSTICE GINSBURG join, an opinion with respect to Part VI, in which JUSTICE KENNEDY, JUSTICE THOMAS, and JUSTICE GINSBURG join, and an opinion with respect to Part IV, in which JUSTICE KENNEDY and JUSTICE GINSBURG join.

Last Term we held that a federal law abridging a brewer’s right to provide the public with accurate information about the alcoholic content of malt beverages is unconstitutional. Rubin v. Coors Brewing Co., 514 U.S. ___, ___ (1995) (slip op., at 14). We now hold that Rhode Island’s statutory prohibition against advertisements that provide the public with accurate information about retail prices of alcoholic beverages is also invalid. Our holding rests on the conclusion that such an advertising ban is an abridgment of speech protected by the First Amendment and that it is not shielded from constitutional scrutiny by the Twenty-first Amendment. 1 [ 44 LIQUORMART, INC. v. RHODE ISLAND, ___ U.S. ___ (1996) , 2]

I

In 1956, the Rhode Island Legislature enacted two separate prohibitions against advertising the retail price of alcoholic beverages. The first applies to vendors licensed in Rhode Island as well as to out-of-state manufacturers, wholesalers, and shippers. It prohibits them from “advertising in any manner whatsoever” the price of any alcoholic beverage offered for sale in the State; the only exception is for price tags or signs displayed with the merchandise within licensed premises and not visible from the street. 2 The second statute applies to the Rhode Island news media. It contains a categorical prohibition against the publication or broadcast of any advertisements – even those referring to sales in other States – that “make reference to the price of any alcoholic beverages.” 3 [ 44 LIQUORMART, INC. v. RHODE ISLAND, ___ U.S. ___ (1996) , 3]

In two cases decided in 1985, the Rhode Island Supreme Court reviewed the constitutionality of these two statutes. In S&S Liquor Mart, Inc. v. Pastore, 497 A. 2d 729 (R. I.), a liquor retailer located in Westerly, Rhode Island, a town that borders the State of Connecticut, having been advised that his license would be revoked if he advertised his prices in a Connecticut paper, sought to enjoin enforcement of the first statute. Over the dissent of one Justice, the court upheld the statute. It concluded that the statute served the substantial state interest in “`the promotion of temperance.'” 4 Id., at 737. Because the plaintiff failed to prove that the statute did not serve that interest, the court held that he had not carried his burden of establishing a violation of the First Amendment. In response to the dissent’s argument that the court had placed the burden on the wrong party, the majority reasoned that the Twenty-first Amendment gave the statute “`an added presumption [ 44 LIQUORMART, INC. v. RHODE ISLAND, ___ U.S. ___ (1996) , 4] [of] validity.'” S&S Liquor Mart, Inc. v. Pastore, 497 A.2d, at 732. Although that presumption had not been overcome in that case, the State Supreme Court assumed that in a future case the record might “support the proposition that these advertising restrictions do not further temperance objectives.” Id., at 734.

In Rhode Island Liquor Stores Assn. v. Evening Call Pub. Co., 497 A. 2d 331 (R. I. 1985), the plaintiff association 5 sought to enjoin the publisher of the local newspaper in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, from accepting advertisements disclosing the retail price of alcoholic beverages being sold across the state line in Millville, Massachusetts. In upholding the injunction, the State Supreme Court adhered to its reasoning in the Pastore case and rejected the argument that the statute neither “directly advanced” the state interest in promoting temperance, nor was “more extensive than necessary to serve that interest” as required by this Court’s decision in Central Hudson Gas & Elec. Corp. v. Public Serv. Comm’n of N. Y., 447 U.S. 557, 563 (1980). It assumed the existence of other, “perhaps more effective means” of achieving the State’s “goal of temperance”, but concluded that it was “not unreasonable for the State of Rhode Island to believe that price advertising will result in increased sales of alcoholic beverages generally.” Rhode Island Liquor Stores Assn. v. Evening Call Pub. Co., 497 A. 2d, at 336.

II

Petitioners 44 Liquormart, Inc. (44 Liquormart), and Peoples Super Liquor Stores, Inc. (Peoples), are licensed retailers of alcoholic beverages. Petitioner 44 Liquormart operates a store in Rhode Island and petitioner Peoples operates several stores in Massachusetts that are patronized by Rhode Island residents. Peoples uses alcohol price advertising extensively in Massachusetts, where such advertising is [ 44 LIQUORMART, INC. v. RHODE ISLAND, ___ U.S. ___ (1996) , 5] permitted, but Rhode Island newspapers and other media outlets have refused to accept such ads.

Complaints from competitors about an advertisement placed by 44 Liquormart in a Rhode Island newspaper in 1991 generated enforcement proceedings that in turn led to the initiation of this litigation. The advertisement did not state the price of any alcoholic beverages. Indeed, it noted that “State law prohibits advertising liquor prices.” The ad did, however, state the low prices at which peanuts, potato chips, and Schweppes mixers were being offered, identify various brands of packaged liquor, and include the word “WOW” in large letters next to pictures of vodka and rum bottles. Based on the conclusion that the implied reference to bargain prices for liquor violated the statutory ban on price advertising, the Rhode Island Liquor Control Administrator assessed a $400 fine.

After paying the fine, 44 Liquormart, joined by Peoples, filed this action against the administrator in the Federal District Court seeking a declaratory judgment that the two statutes and the administrator’s implementing regulations violate the First Amendment and other provisions of federal law. The Rhode Island Liquor Stores Association was allowed to intervene as a defendant and in due course the State of Rhode Island replaced the administrator as the principal defendant. The parties stipulated that the price advertising ban is vigorously enforced, that Rhode Island permits “all advertising of alcoholic beverages excepting references to price outside the licensed premises,” and that petitioners’ proposed ads do not concern an illegal activity and presumably would not be false or misleading. 44 Liquour Mart, Inc. v. Racine, 829 F. Supp. 543, 545 (R. I. 1993). The parties disagreed, however, about the impact of the ban on the promotion of temperance in Rhode Island. On that question the District Court heard conflicting expert testimony and reviewed a number of studies.

In his findings of fact, the District Judge first noted that there was a pronounced lack of unanimity among researchers [ 44 LIQUORMART, INC. v. RHODE ISLAND, ___ U.S. ___ (1996) , 6] who have studied the impact of advertising on the level of consumption of alcoholic beverages. He referred to a 1985 Federal Trade Commission study that found no evidence that alcohol advertising significantly affects alcohol abuse. Another study indicated that Rhode Island ranks in the upper 30% of States in per capita consumption of alcoholic beverages; alcohol consumption is lower in other States that allow price advertising. After summarizing the testimony of the expert witnesses for both parties, he found “as a fact that Rhode Island’s off-premises liquor price advertising ban has no significant impact on levels of alcohol consumption in Rhode Island.” Id., at 549.

As a matter of law, he concluded that the price advertising ban was unconstitutional because it did not “directly advance” the State’s interest in reducing alcohol consumption and was “more extensive than necessary to serve that interest.” Id., at 555. He reasoned that the party seeking to uphold a restriction on commercial speech carries the burden of justifying it and that the Twenty-first Amendment did not shift or diminish that burden. Acknowledging that it might have been reasonable for the state legislature to “assume a correlation between the price advertising ban and reduced consumption,” he held that more than a rational basis was required to justify the speech restriction, and that the State had failed to demonstrate a reasonable “`fit'” between its policy objectives and its chosen means. Ibid.

The Court of Appeals reversed. It found “inherent merit” in the State’s submission that competitive price advertising would lower prices and that lower prices would produce more sales. 39 F.3d 5, 7 (CA1 1994). Moreover, it agreed with the reasoning of the Rhode Island Supreme Court that the Twenty-first Amendment gave the statutes an added presumption of validity. Id., at 8. Alternatively, it concluded that reversal was compelled by this Court’s summary action in Queensgate Investment Co. v. Liquor Control Comm’n of Ohio, 459 U.S. 807 (1982). See 39 F.3d, at 8. In that case the Court dismissed the appeal from a decision of the [ 44 LIQUORMART, INC. v. RHODE ISLAND, ___ U.S. ___ (1996) , 7] Ohio Supreme Court upholding a prohibition against off-premises advertising of the prices of alcoholic beverages sold by the drink. See Queensgate Investment Co. v. Liquor Control Comm’n of Ohio, 69 Ohio St. 2d 361, 433 N. E. 2d 138 (1982).

Queensgate has been both followed and distinguished in subsequent cases reviewing the validity of similar advertising bans. 6 We are now persuaded that the importance of the First Amendment issue, as well the suggested relevance of the Twenty-first Amendment, merits more thorough analysis than it received when we refused to accept jurisdiction of the Queensgate appeal. We therefore granted certiorari. 514 U.S. ___ (1995).

III

Advertising has been a part of our culture throughout our history. Even in colonial days, the public relied on “commercial speech” for vital information about the market. Early [ 44 LIQUORMART, INC. v. RHODE ISLAND, ___ U.S. ___ (1996) , 8] newspapers displayed advertisements for goods and services on their front pages, and town criers called out prices in public squares. See J. Wood, The Story of Advertising 21, 45-69, 85 (1958); J. Smith, Printers and Press Freedom 49 (1988). Indeed, commercial messages played such a central role in public life prior to the Founding that Benjamin Franklin authored his early defense of a free press in support of his decision to print, of all things, an advertisement for voyages to Barbados. Franklin, An Apology for Printers, June 10, 1731, reprinted in 2 Writings of Benjamin Franklin 172 (1907).

In accord with the role that commercial messages have long played, the law has developed to ensure that advertising provides consumers with accurate information about the availability of goods and services. In the early years, the common law, and later, statutes, served the consumers’ interest in the receipt of accurate information in the commercial market by prohibiting fraudulent and misleading advertising. It was not until the 1970’s, however, that this Court held that the First Amendment protected the dissemination of truthful and nonmisleading commercial messages about lawful products and services. See generally Kozinski & Banner, The Anti-History and Pre-History of Commercial Speech, 71 Texas L. Rev. 747 (1993).

In Bigelow v. Virginia, 421 U.S. 809 (1975), we held that it was error to assume that commercial speech was entitled to no First Amendment protection or that it was without value in the marketplace of ideas. Id., at 825-826. The following Term in Virginia Bd. of Pharmacy v. Virginia Citizens Consumer Council, Inc., 425 U.S. 748 (1976), we expanded on our holding in Bigelow and held that the State’s blanket ban on advertising the price of prescription drugs violated the First Amendment.

Virginia Pharmacy Bd. reflected the conclusion that the same interest that supports regulation of potentially misleading advertising, namely the public’s interest in receiving accurate commercial information, also supports an interpretation of the [ 44 LIQUORMART, INC. v. RHODE ISLAND, ___ U.S. ___ (1996) , 9] First Amendment that provides constitutional protection for the dissemination of accurate and nonmisleading commercial messages. We explained:

The opinion further explained that a State’s paternalistic assumption that the public will use truthful, nonmisleading commercial information unwisely cannot justify a decision to suppress it:

[ 44 LIQUORMART, INC. v. RHODE ISLAND, ___ U.S. ___ (1996) , 10]

suppressing information, and the dangers of its misuse if it is freely available, that the First Amendment makes for us.” Id. at 770.

On the basis of these principles, our early cases uniformly struck down several broadly based bans on truthful, nonmisleading commercial speech, each of which served ends unrelated to consumer protection. 8 Indeed, one of those cases expressly likened the rationale that Virginia Pharmacy Bd. employed to the one that Justice Brandeis adopted in his concurrence in Whitney v. California, 274 U.S. 357 (1927). See Linmark Associates, Inc. v. Willingboro, 431 U.S. 85, 97 (1977). There, Justice Brandeis wrote, in explaining his objection to a prohibition of political speech, that “the remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence. Only an emergency can justify repression.” Whitney, 274 U.S., at 377; see also Carey v. Population Services Int’l, 431 U.S. 678, 701 (1977) (applying test for suppressing political speech set forth in Brandenburg v. Ohio, 395 U.S. 444, 447 (1969)).

At the same time, our early cases recognized that the State may regulate some types of commercial advertising more freely than other forms of protected speech. Specifically, we explained that the State may require commercial messages to “appear in such a form, or include such additional information, warnings, and disclaimers, as are necessary to prevent its being deceptive,” Virginia Pharmacy Bd., 425 U.S., at [ 44 LIQUORMART, INC. v. RHODE ISLAND, ___ U.S. ___ (1996) , 11] 772, n. 24, and that it may restrict some forms of aggressive sales practices that have the potential to exert “undue influence” over consumers. See Bates v. State Bar of Ariz., 433 U.S. 350, 366 (1977).

Virginia Pharmacy Bd. attributed the State’s authority to impose these regulations in part to certain “commonsense differences” that exist between commercial messages and other types of protected expression. 425 U.S., at 771 , n. 24. Our opinion noted that the greater “objectivity” of commercial speech justifies affording the State more freedom to distinguish false commercial advertisements from true ones, ibid. and that the greater “hardiness” of commercial speech, inspired as it is by the profit motive, likely diminishes the chilling effect that may attend its regulation, ibid.

Subsequent cases explained that the State’s power to regulate commercial transactions justifies its concomitant power to regulate commercial speech that is “linked inextricably” to those transactions. Friedman v. Rogers, 440 U.S. 1, 10 , n. 9 (1979); Ohralik v. Ohio State Bar Assn., 436 U.S. 447, 456 (1978) (commercial speech “occurs in an area traditionally subject to government regulation . . .”). As one commentator has explained: “The entire commercial speech doctrine, after all, represents an accommodation between the right to speak and hear expression about goods and services and the right of government to regulate the sales of such goods and services.” L. Tribe, American Constitutional Law 12-15, p. 903 (2d ed. 1988). Nevertheless, as we explained in Linmark, the State retains less regulatory authority when its commercial speech restrictions strike at “the substance of the information communicated” rather than the “commercial aspect of [it] with offerors communicating offers to offerees.” See Linmark 431 U.S., at 96 ; Carey v. Population Services Int’l, 431 U.S. 678, 701 , n. 28 (1977).

In Central Hudson Gas & Elec. Corp. v. Public Serv. Comm’n of N. Y., 447 U.S. 557 (1980), we took stock of our developing commercial speech jurisprudence. In that case, we considered a regulation “completely” banning all [ 44 LIQUORMART, INC. v. RHODE ISLAND, ___ U.S. ___ (1996) , 12] promotional advertising by electric utilities. Ibid. Our decision acknowledged the special features of commercial speech but identified the serious First Amendment concerns that attend blanket advertising prohibitions that do not protect consumers from commercial harms.

Five Members of the Court recognized that the state interest in the conservation of energy was substantial, and that there was “an immediate connection between advertising and demand for electricity.” Id., at 569. Nevertheless, they concluded that the regulation was invalid because the Commission had failed to make a showing that a more limited speech regulation would not have adequately served the State’s interest. Id., at 571. 9

In reaching its conclusion, the majority explained that although the special nature of commercial speech may require less than strict review of its regulation, special concerns arise from “regulations that entirely suppress commercial speech in order to pursue a nonspeech-related policy.” Id., at 566, n. 9. In those circumstances, “a ban on speech could screen from public view the underlying governmental policy.” Ibid. As a result, the Court concluded that “special care” should attend the review of such blanket bans, and it pointedly remarked that “in recent years this Court has not approved a blanket ban on commercial speech unless the speech itself was flawed in some way, either because it was deceptive or related to unlawful activity.” [ 44 LIQUORMART, INC. v. RHODE ISLAND, ___ U.S. ___ (1996) , 13] Ibid. 10

IV

As our review of the case law reveals, Rhode Island errs in concluding that all commercial speech regulations are subject to a similar form of constitutional review simply because they target a similar category of expression. The mere fact that messages propose commercial transactions does not in and of itself dictate the constitutional analysis that should apply to decisions to suppress them. See Rubin v. Coors Brewing Co., 514 U.S., at ___-___ (slip op., at 1-3) (STEVENS, J., concurring in judgment).

When a State regulates commercial messages to protect consumers from misleading, deceptive, or aggressive sales practices, or requires the disclosure of beneficial consumer information, the purpose of its regulation is consistent with the reasons for according constitutional protection to commercial speech and therefore justifies less than strict review. However, when a State entirely prohibits the dissemination of truthful, nonmisleading commercial messages for reasons unrelated to the preservation of a fair bargaining process, there is far less reason to depart from the rigorous review that the First Amendment generally demands.

Sound reasons justify reviewing the latter type of commercial speech regulation more carefully. Most obviously, complete speech bans, unlike content-neutral restrictions on the time, place, or manner of expression, see Kovacs v. Cooper, 336 U.S. 77, 89 (1949), are particularly dangerous because they all but foreclose alternative means of disseminating certain information. [ 44 LIQUORMART, INC. v. RHODE ISLAND, ___ U.S. ___ (1996) , 14]

Our commercial speech cases have recognized the dangers that attend governmental attempts to single out certain messages for suppression. For example, in Linmark, 431 U.S., at 92 -94, we concluded that a ban on “For Sale” signs was “content based” and failed to leave open “satisfactory” alternative channels of communication; see also Virginia Pharmacy Bd., 425 U.S., at 771 . Moreover, last Term we upheld a 30-day prohibition against a certain form of legal solicitation largely because it left so many channels of communication open to Florida lawyers. Florida Bar v. Went For It, Inc., 515 U.S. ___, ___-___ (1995) (slip op., at 15-16). 11

The special dangers that attend complete bans on truthful, nonmisleading commercial speech cannot be explained away by appeals to the “commonsense distinctions” that exist between commercial and noncommercial speech. Virginia Pharmacy Bd., 425 U.S., at 771 , n. 24. Regulations that suppress the truth are no less troubling because they target objectively verifiable information, nor are they less effective because they aim at durable messages. As a result, neither the “greater objectivity” nor the “greater hardiness” of truthful, nonmisleading commercial speech justifies reviewing its complete suppression with added deference. Ibid.

It is the State’s interest in protecting consumers from “commercial harms” that provides “the typical reason why commercial [ 44 LIQUORMART, INC. v. RHODE ISLAND, ___ U.S. ___ (1996) , 15] speech can be subject to greater governmental regulation than noncommercial speech.” Cincinnati v. Discovery Network, Inc., 507 U.S. 410, 426 (1993). Yet bans that target truthful, nonmisleading commercial messages rarely protect consumers from such harms. 12 Instead, such bans often serve only to obscure an “underlying governmental policy” that could be implemented without regulating speech. Central Hudson, 447 U.S., at 566 , n. 9. In this way, these commercial speech bans not only hinder consumer choice, but also impede debate over central issues of public policy. See id., at 575 (Blackmun, J., concurring in judgment). 13

Precisely because bans against truthful, nonmisleading commercial speech rarely seek to protect consumers from either deception or overreaching, they usually rest solely on the offensive assumption that the public will respond “irrationally” to the truth. Linmark, 431 U.S., at 96 . The First Amendment directs us to be especially skeptical of regulations that seek to keep people in the dark for what the government perceives to be their own good. That teaching applies equally to state attempts to deprive consumers of accurate information about their chosen products:

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that the speaker and the audience, not the government, assess the value of the information presented. Thus, even a communication that does no more than propose a commercial transaction is entitled to the coverage of the First Amendment. See Virginia State Bd. of Pharmacy, supra, at 762.” Edenfield v. Fane, 507 U.S. 761, 767 (1993).

See also Linmark, 431 U.S. at 96 (1977); Rubin v. Coors Brewing Co., 514 U.S., at ___ (STEVENS, J., concurring in judgment); Tribe, American Constitutional Law 12-2, at 790, and n. 11.

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