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Article: `Skeptical of Regulations That Seek to Keep People in the Dark'
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- May 14, 1996
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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Excerpts from the opinion by Justice John Paul Stevens in the
case of 44 Liquormart v. Rhode Island:
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 newspapers displayed
advertisements for goods and services on their front pages, and town
criers called out prices in public squares. 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.
In accord with the role that ...