et al. Posadas de Puerto Rico v. Tourism Company of Puerto Rico

By a 5-4 margin the Supreme Court upheld the decision of the lower courts, ruling that the act was constitutional. The Court also agreed that discouraging participation in legal gambling by residents of Puerto Rico constituted a compelling state interest. In deciding on the constitutionality of the company's interpretation of the act, the Supreme Court applied the test for establishing violation of First Amendment protection of commercial speech developed in Central Hudson Gas and Electric Corporation v. Public Service Commission of New York, (1980). This test involves applying four questions to any commercial speech: does the speech promote a lawful activity and is it truthful?; is there a compelling state interest in regulating the speech?; do any regulations applied to the speech advance the state's compelling interest in such regulation?; are any regulations of the speech excessive to the state's compelling interest in such regulation? The Court ruled that the company's interpretation of the act met each of the four prongs of the Central Hudson test, and as such affirmed the decision of the superior court. The four dissenting justices advanced the position that commercial speech that promotes a lawful activity and is truthful in content should be afforded the same protection as other forms of speech.