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- SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
- --------
- No. 93-44
- --------
- TURNER BROADCASTING SYSTEM, INC., et al.,
- APPELLANTS v. FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS
- COMMISSION et al.
- on appeal from the united states district court
- for the district of columbia
- [June 27, 1994]
-
- Justice Blackmun, concurring.
- I join Justice Kennedy's opinion, which aptly identi-
- fies and analyzes the First Amendment concerns and
- principles that should guide consideration of free speech
- issues in the expanding cable industry. I write to
- emphasize the paramount importance of according
- substantial deference to the predictive judgments of
- Congress, see, e.g., Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc.
- v. Democratic National Committee, 412 U. S. 94, 103
- (1973), particularly where, as here, that legislative body
- has compiled an extensive record in the course of
- reaching its judgment. Nonetheless, the standard for
- summary judgment is high, and no less so when First
- Amendment values are at stake and the issue is of far-
- reaching importance. Because in this case there remain
- a few unresolved issues of material fact, a remand is
- appropriate. The Government had occasion to submit to
- the District Court only portions of the record developed
- by Congress. In light of the Court's opinion today, those
- portions, which were submitted to defeat a motion for
- summary judgment, are not adequate to support one.
- The record before the District Court no doubt will
- benefit from any additional evidence the Government
- and the other parties now see fit to present.
-