Garcetti v. Ceballos, 547 U.S. 410; 126 S. Ct. 1951; 164 L. Ed. 2d 689 (2006) Facts—Richard Ceballos, a deputy district attorney for Los Angeles County who served as a calendar deputy, concluded that an affidavit contained serious misrepresentations, and…
Morse v. Frederick, 551 U.S. 393; 127 S. Ct. 2618; 168 L. Ed. 2d 290 (2007) Facts—Joseph Frederick, a high school senior, was suspended after displaying a fourteen-foot banner saying “BONG HITS 4 JESUS” at an Olympic Torch Relay that…
Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier, 484 U.S. 260; 108 S. Ct. 562; 98 L. Ed. 2d 592 (1988) Facts—Staff members of Spectrum, a high school newspaper, filed a suit against the school district and school officials alleging that the principal…
Bethel School District No. 403 v. Fraser, 478 U.S. 675; 106 S. Ct. 3159; 92 L. Ed. 2d 549 (1986) Facts—Fraser, a student at Bethel High School in Pierce County, Washing- ton, delivered a sexually suggestive speech in nominating a…
Snepp v. United States, 444 U.S. 507; 100 S. Ct. 763; 62 L. Ed. 2d 704 (1980) Facts—As a condition of his employment with the CIA in 1968, Frank Snepp executed an agreement promising that he would “not . .…
Federal Communications Commission v. Pacifica Foundation, 438 U.S. 726; 98 S. Ct. 3026; 57 L. Ed. 2d 1073 (1978) Facts—A satiric humorist, George Carlin, recorded a twelve-minute monologue entitled “Filthy words” before a live audience in a California theater. He…
Feiner v. New York, 340 U.S. 315; 71 S. Ct. 303; 95 L. Ed. 295 (1951) Facts—Irving Feiner, a student at Syracuse University, addressed a street meeting of about seventy-five people, urging them to attend a meeting that night on…
Kovacs v. Cooper, 336 U.S. 77; 69 S. Ct. 448; 93 L. Ed. 513 (1949) Facts—An ordinance of Trenton, New Jersey, makes it unlawful to play, use, or operate for advertising or any other purpose on public streets, alleys, or…
Virginia v. Black, 538 U.S. 343; 123 S. Ct. 1536; 155 L. Ed. 2d 535 (2003) Facts—Virginia law provided criminal penalties for individuals who burned crosses with the intent of intimidating others and treated cross burning as prima facie evidence…
Erie v. Pap’s A.M., 529 U.S. 277; 120 S. Ct. 1382; 146 L. Ed. 2d 165 (2000) Facts—Erie, Pennsylvania, adopted a law prohibiting public nudity and therefore requiring that exotic dancers wear, at a minimum, “pasties” and a “Gstring.” The…
Texas v. Johnson, 491 U.S. 397; 109 S. Ct. 2533; 105 L. Ed. 2d 342 (1989) Facts—After he publicly burned a U.S. flag at a protest at the 1984 Republican National Convention in Dallas, Texas, the state sentenced Johnson to…
Lynch v. Donnelly, 465 U.S. 668; 104 S. Ct. 1355; 79 L. Ed. 2d 604 (1984) Facts—Residents of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, and members of the American Civil Liberties Union challenged the city’s display of a nativity scene, or crèche, as…
Tinker v. Des Moines, 393 U.S. 503; 89 S. Ct. 733; 21 L. Ed. 2d 731 (1969) Facts—Three students, two in high school and one in junior high, were suspended from school after they wore black armbands to class in…
West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624; 63 S. Ct. 1178, 87 L. Ed. 1628 (1943) Facts—Following the decision of the Supreme Court in Minersville School District v. Gobitis, 310 U.S. 586 (1940), permitting school boards…
Cox v. New Hampshire, 312 U.S. 569; 61 S. Ct. 762; 85 L. Ed. 1049 (1941) Facts—Cox, a member of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, was convicted of violating a city ordinance of the city of Manchester, New Hampshire, that forbade any…
Brandenburg v. Ohio, 395 U.S. 444; 89 S. Ct. 1827; 23 L. Ed. 2d 430 (1969) Facts—Brandenburg, a Ku Klux Klan leader, was convicted under Ohio’s criminal syndicalism statute for remarks that he had been taped making at a Klan…
Keyishian v. Board of Regents, 385 U.S. 589; 87 S. Ct. 675; 17 L. Ed. 2d 629 (1967) Facts—Faculty members of the State University of New York at Buffalo refused to sign a required certificate that they were not, and…
Dennis v. United States, 341 U.S. 494; 71 S. Ct. 857; 95 L. Ed. 1137 (1951) Facts—Eleven leaders of the Communist Party were convicted of violating the 1940 Smith Act. The defendants were convicted of conspiring to organize the Communist…
American Communications Association v. Douds, 339 U.S. 382; 70 S. Ct. 674; 94 L. Ed. 925 (1950) Facts—Section 9 (h) of the Taft-Hartley Act, the Labor-Management Relations Act of 1947, provides that the National Labor Relations Board shall not investigate…
Schenck v. United States, 249 U.S. 47; 39 S. Ct. 247; 63 L. Ed. 470 (1919) Facts—Schenck, the general secretary of the Socialist Party, sent out about 15,000 leaflets to men who had been called to military service, urging them…
Ashcroft v. American Civil Liberties Union, 542 U.S. 656; 124 S. Ct. 2783; 159 L. Ed. 2d 690 (2004) Facts—The Child Online Protection Act (COPA) required commercial Internet postings of sexual material to limit access to minors by requiring use…
Ashcroft v. The Free Speech Coalition, 535 U.S. 234; 122 S. Ct. 1389; 152 L. Ed. 2d 403; 2002 U.S. LEXIS 1789 (2002) Facts—In the Child Pornography Prevention Act (CCPA) of 1996, Congress expanded its ban on child pornography to…
National Endowment for the Arts v. Finley, 524 U.S. 569; 118 S. Ct. 2168; 141 L. Ed. 2d 500 (1998) Facts—Stung by outcries over federal funding of art that was considered to be obscene or blasphemous, Congress amended the National…
Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union, 521 U.S. 844; 117 S. Ct. 2329; 138 L. Ed. 2d 874 (1997) Facts—The Communications Decency Act of 1996 (CDA) contained provisions designed to protect minors from “indecent” and “patently offensive” communications via the…
New York v. Ferber, 458 U.S. 747; 102 S. Ct. 2248; 73 L. Ed. 3d 1113 (1982) Facts—New York prohibited knowing depiction of sexual performances by children or distribution thereof. Ferber, a proprietor of a Manhattan book- store, sold two…