National Endowment for the Arts v. Finley
| National Endowment for the Arts v. Finley | |
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| Argued March 31, 1998 Decided June 25, 1998 |
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| Full case name | National Endowment for the Arts v. Finley, et al. |
| Citations | 524 U.S. 569 (more)
118 S. Ct. 2168, 141 L. Ed. 2d 500, 1998 U.S.
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| Holding | |
| Section 954(d)(1) is facially valid, as it neither inherently interferes with First Amendment rights nor violates constitutional vagueness principles. | |
| Court membership | |
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| Case opinions | |
| Majority | O'Connor, joined by Rehnquist, Stevens, Kennedy, Ginsburg, Breyer, |
| Concurrence | Scalia, joined by Thomas |
| Dissent | Souter |
National Endowment for the Arts v. Finley, 524 U.S. 569 (1998), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court ruled that the National Foundation on the Arts and Humanities Act, as amended in 1990, (20 U.S.C. § 954 (d)(1)), which required the Chairperson of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to ensure that "artistic excellence and artistic merit are the criteria by which [grant] applications are judged, taking into consideration general standards of decency and respect for the diverse beliefs and values of the American public" was facially valid, as it neither inherently interfered with First Amendment rights nor violated constitutional vagueness principles. Justice O'Connor delivered the opinion of the Court.
Congress established the National Endowment for the Arts in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. As of 2012, the NEA had awarded a total of more than $4 billion to support artistic excellence, creativity, and innovation for the benefit of individuals and communities.
Since its establishment, the NEA has funded thousands of individual artists and arts organizations. In 1989, two controversial works were partially or fully funded with grants from the NEA. The Institute of Contemporary Art at the University of Pennsylvania used $30,000 of a visual arts grant from the NEA to fund a retrospective of Robert Mapplethorpe’s work. The exhibit, titled "The Perfect Moment", included homoerotic photographs that some members of Congress deemed to be pornographic. Members of Congress also criticized Serrano’s work, Piss Christ, a photograph of a crucifix submerged in urine. The Southeast Center for Contemporary Arts, which also received funding from the NEA, awarded Serrano a $15,000 grant.
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