Lamont v. Postmaster General

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1965 United States Supreme Court case

Lamont v. Postmaster General

Supreme Court of the United States

Argued April 26, 1965
Decided May 24, 1965
Full case name| Corliss Lamont, dba Basic Pamphlets, Appellant v. Postmaster General of the United States
Citations| 381 U.S. 301 (more)

85 S.Ct. 1493; 14 L. Ed. 2d 398; 1965 U.S. LEXIS 2286

Case history
Prior| 229 F. Supp. 913 (S.D.N.Y. 1964); probable jurisdiction noted, 379 U.S. 926 (1964).
Holding
The Postal Service and Federal Employees Salary Act is unconstitutional since it imposes on addressees an affirmative obligation that amounts to an unconstitutional limitation of their rights under the First Amendment.
Court membership

Chief Justice
Earl Warren
Associate Justices
Hugo Black * William O. Douglas
Tom C. Clark * John M. Harlan II
William J. Brennan Jr. * Potter Stewart
Byron White * Arthur Goldberg
Case opinions
Majority| Douglas
Concurrence| Brennan, joined by Goldberg
Concurrence| Harlan
White took no part in the consideration or decision of the case.
Laws applied
U.S. Const. amend. I

Lamont v. Postmaster General, 381 U.S. 301 (1965), was a landmark First Amendment Supreme Court case, in which the ruling of the Supreme Court struck down § 305(a) of the Postal Service and Federal Employees Salary Act of 1962, a federal statute requiring the Postmaster General to detain and deliver only upon the addressee's request unsealed foreign mailings of "communist political propaganda."[1]

## Background

[edit]

39 U.S.C. 4008 (1964) required the U.S. Postmaster General to detain and not deliver "communist political propaganda," unless a recipient affirmatively indicated their consent to receive such materials through the mail. Dr. Corliss Lamont had a copy of the Peking Review detained and declined to respond to the government's inquiry as to whether he wished to receive the delivery. Lamont subsequently filed suit alleging that Section 4008 violated his 1st Amendment and 5th Amendment rights.

## Opinion of the court

[edit]

The Court held:

> the Act, as construed and applied, is unconstitutional, since it imposes on the addressee an affirmative obligation which amounts to an unconstitutional limitation of his rights under the First Amendment.[1]

The Court was unanimous in the judgment (8–0, with Justice White recused). Justice Brennan wrote a concurring opinion (which Justice Goldberg joined) and Justice Harlan also wrote a concurring opinion.

## See also

[edit]

* Chilling effect

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b Lamont v. Postmaster General, 381 U.S. 301 (1965).

## Further reading

[edit]

* Sigler, Jay A. (1965). "Freedom of the Mails: A Developing Right". Georgetown Law Journal. 54: 30.

## External links

[edit]

* Works related to Lamont v. Postmaster General at Wikisource
* Text of Lamont v. Postmaster General, 381 U.S. 301 (1965) is available from: CourtListener Findlaw Google Scholar Justia Library of Congress Oyez (oral argument audio)

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United States Postal Service

Organizations|

* American Letter Mail Company
* American Postal Workers Union
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Services|

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Legal|

* Comstock Act of 1873
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* Postal Reorganization Act of 1970
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* Private Express Statutes
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* Title 39 of the United States Code

Related|

* 2020 United States Postal Service crisis
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* v
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* e

U.S. Supreme Court Freedom of Speech Clause case law

First Amendment to the United States Constitution

Unprotected speech|

| Clear and
present danger
and imminent
lawless action|

* Schenck v. United States (1919)
* Debs v. United States (1919)
* Abrams v. United States (1919)
* Gitlow v. New York (1925)
* Whitney v. California (1927)
* Fiske v. Kansas (1927)
* Dennis v. United States (1951)
* Communist Party v. Subversive Activities Control Bd. (1955; 1961)
* Yates v. United States (1957)
* Bond v. Floyd (1966)
* Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969)
* Hess v. Indiana (1973)

|

Defamation and
false speech|

* New York Times Co. v. Sullivan (1964)
* Hustler Magazine v. Falwell (1988)
* United States v. Alvarez (2012)
* Susan B. Anthony List v. Driehaus (2014)

Fighting words and
the heckler's veto|

* Cantwell v. Connecticut (1940)
* Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire (1942)
* Terminiello v. City of Chicago (1949)
* Feiner v. New York (1951)
* Gregory v. City of Chicago (1969)
* Cohen v. California (1971)
* Nat'l Socialist Party v. Village of Skokie (1977)
* R.A.V. v. City of St. Paul (1992)
* Snyder v. Phelps (2011)

True threats|

* Virginia v. Black (2003)
* Elonis v. United States (2015)
* Counterman v. Colorado (2023)

Obscenity|

* Rosen v. United States (1896)
* Roth v. United States (1957)
* One, Inc. v. Olesen (1958)
* Smith v. California (1959)
* Marcus v. Search Warrant (1961)
* Manual Enterprises, Inc. v. Day (1962)
* Jacobellis v. Ohio (1964)
* Quantity of Books v. Kansas (1964)
* Ginzburg v. United States (1966)
* Memoirs v. Massachusetts (1966)
* Redrup v. New York (1967)
* Ginsberg v. New York (1968)
* Stanley v. Georgia (1969)
* United States v. Thirty-seven Photographs (1971)
* Kois v. Wisconsin (1972)
* Miller v. California (1973)
* Paris Adult Theatre I v. Slaton (1973)
* United States v. 12 200-ft. Reels of Film (1973)
* Jenkins v. Georgia (1974)
* Erznoznik v. City of Jacksonville (1975)
* Young v. American Mini Theatres, Inc. (1976)
* People v. Freeman (Cal. 1988)
* United States v. X-Citement Video, Inc. (1994)
* Reno v. ACLU (1997)
* United States v. Playboy Entertainment Group, Inc. (2000)
* City of Los Angeles v. Alameda Books, Inc. (2002)
* Ashcroft v. American Civil Liberties Union (2002)
* United States v. American Library Ass'n (2003)
* United States v. Williams (2008)
* FCC v. Fox Television Stations, Inc. (2009)
* United States v. Stevens (2010)
* Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Ass'n (2011)
* FCC v. Fox Television Stations, Inc. (2012)
* Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton (2025)

Speech integral
to criminal conduct|

* New York v. Ferber (1982)
* Osborne v. Ohio (1990)
* Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition (2002)
* United States v. Hansen (2023)

Strict scrutiny|

* Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project (2010)
* Williams-Yulee v. Florida Bar (2015)

Overbreadth and
Vagueness doctrines|

* Smith v. Goguen (1974)
* Board of Airport Commissioners v. Jews for Jesus (1987)
* Minnesota Voters Alliance v. Mansky (2018)

Symbolic speech
versus conduct|

* Stromberg v. California (1931)
* United States v. O'Brien (1968)
* Cohen v. California (1971)
* Spence v. Washington (1974)
* Clark v. Community for Creative Non-Violence (1984)
* Dallas v. Stanglin (1989)
* Texas v. Johnson (1989)
* United States v. Eichman (1990)
* Barnes v. Glen Theatre (1991)
* City of Erie v. Pap's A. M. (2000)
* Virginia v. Black (2003)

Content-based
restrictions|

* Lamont v. Postmaster General (1965)
* Metromedia, Inc. v. San Diego (1981)
* Boos v. Barry (1988)
* Simon & Schuster, Inc. v. Crime Victims Board (1991)
* R.A.V. v. City of St. Paul (1992)
* Reed v. Town of Gilbert (2015)
* Barr v. American Association of Political Consultants (2020)
* City of Austin v. Reagan National Advertising of Austin, LLC (2022)

Content-neutral
restrictions|

* Schneider v. New Jersey (1939)
* United States v. Albertini (1985)
* Renton v. Playtime Theatres, Inc. (1986)
* Arcara v. Cloud Books, Inc. (1986)
* City of Ladue v. Gilleo (1994)
* Packingham v. North Carolina (2017)
* TikTok v. Garland (2025)

| In the
public forum|

* Davis v. Massachusetts (1897)
* Hague v. CIO (1939)
* Thornhill v. Alabama (1940)
* Martin v. City of Struthers (1943)
* Niemotko v. Maryland (1951)
* Edwards v. South Carolina (1963)
* Cox v. Louisiana (1965)
* Brown v. Louisiana (1966)
* Adderley v. Florida (1966)
* Carroll v. Town of Princess Anne (1968)
* Coates v. City of Cincinnati (1971)
* Org. for a Better Austin v. Keefe (1971)
* Clark v. Community for Creative Non-Violence (1984)
* Frisby v. Schultz (1988)
* Ward v. Rock Against Racism (1989)
* Burson v. Freeman (1992)
* Madsen v. Women's Health Center, Inc. (1994)
* Schenck v. Pro-Choice Network of Western New York (1997)
* Hill v. Colorado (2000)
* McCullen v. Coakley (2014)

|

Designated
public forum|

* Widmar v. Vincent (1981)
* Rosenberger v. Univ. of Virginia (1995)
* Uzuegbunam v. Preczewski (2021)

Nonpublic
forum|

* Lehman v. Shaker Heights (1974)
* Perry Education Association v. Perry Local Educators' Association (1983)
* Cornelius v. NAACP Legal Defense Fund (1985)
* Arkansas Educational Television Commission v. Forbes (1997)
* Minnesota Voters Alliance v. Mansky (2018)

Compelled speech|

* Minersville School District v. Gobitis (1940)
* West Virginia State Board of Ed. v. Barnette (1943)
* Miami Herald Publishing Co. v. Tornillo (1974)
* Wooley v. Maynard (1977)
* Pruneyard Shopping Center v. Robins (1980)
* Pacific Gas & Electric Co. v. Public Utilities Comm'n of California (1986)
* Hurley v. Irish-American Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Group of Boston (1995)
* Rumsfeld v. Forum for Academic & Institutional Rights, Inc. (2006)
* National Institute of Family and Life Advocates v. Becerra (2018)
* 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis (2023)
* Moody v. NetChoice, LLC (2024)

Compelled subsidy
of others' speech|

* International Ass'n of Machinists v. Street (1961)
* Abood v. Detroit Board of Education (1977)
* Minnesota Board for Community Colleges v. Knight (1984)
* Communications Workers of America v. Beck (1988)
* Keller v. State Bar of California (1990)
* Lehnert v. Ferris Faculty Ass'n (1991)
* Board of Regents of the Univ. of Wisconsin System v. Southworth (2000)
* Johanns v. Livestock Marketing Ass'n (2005)
* Davenport v. Washington Education Ass'n (2007)
* Locke v. Karass (2008)
* Knox v. SEIU, Local 1000 (2012)
* Harris v. Quinn (2014)
* Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association (2016)
* Janus v. AFSCME (2018)

Government grants
and subsidies|

* Regan v. Taxation with Representation of Washington (1983)
* Rust v. Sullivan (1991)
* National Endowment for the Arts v. Finley (1998)
* Legal Services Corp. v. Velazquez (2001)
* USAID v. Alliance for Open Society International I (2013)
* USAID v. Alliance for Open Society International II (2020)

Government speech|

* Pleasant Grove City v. Summum (2009)
* Walker v. Texas Div., Sons of Confederate Veterans (2015)
* Matal v. Tam (2017)
* Iancu v. Brunetti (2019)
* Houston Community College System v. Wilson (2022)
* Shurtleff v. City of Boston (2022)
* Vidal v. Elster (2024)

Loyalty oaths|

* American Communications Ass'n v. Douds (1950)
* Garner v. Board of Public Works (1951)
* Speiser v. Randall (1958)
* Keyishian v. Board of Regents (1967)
* Communist Party of Indiana v. Whitcomb (1974)

School speech|

* Minersville School District v. Gobitis (1940)
* West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette (1943)
* Tinker v. Des Moines Ind. Community School Dist. (1969, substantial disruption)
* Healy v. James (1972)
* Island Trees School District v. Pico (1982)
* Bethel School District v. Fraser (1986)
* Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier (1988)
* Westside Community Board of Ed. v. Mergens (1990)
* Rosenberger v. Univ. of Virginia (1995)
* Brentwood Academy v. Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Ass'n (2001)
* Morse v. Frederick (2007)
* Uzuegbunam v. Preczewski (2021)
* Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L. (2021)

Public employees|

* Pickering v. Board of Education (1968)
* Perry v. Sindermann (1972)
* Arnett v. Kennedy (1974)
* Elrod v. Burns (1976)
* Mt. Healthy City School Dist. Board of Ed. v. Doyle (1977)
* Givhan v. Western Line Consol. School Dist. (1979)
* Connick v. Myers (1983)
* Rankin v. McPherson (1987)
* Rutan v. Republican Party of Illinois (1990)
* Waters v. Churchill (1994)
* United States v. National Treasury Employees Union (1995)
* Brentwood Academy v. Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Ass'n (2001)
* Garcetti v. Ceballos (2006)
* Borough of Duryea v. Guarnieri (2011)
* Lane v. Franks (2014)
* Heffernan v. City of Paterson (2016)
* Kennedy v. Bremerton School Dist. (2022)

Hatch Act and
similar laws|

* Ex parte Curtis (1882)
* United Public Workers v. Mitchell (1947)
* U.S. Civil Service Comm'n v. National Ass'n of Letter Carriers (1973)
* Broadrick v. Oklahoma (1973)

Licensing and
restriction of speech|

* Mutual Film Corp. v. Industrial Comm'n of Ohio (1915)
* Cox v. New Hampshire (1941)
* Murdock v. Pennsylvania (1943)
* Kunz v. New York (1951)
* Joseph Burstyn, Inc. v. Wilson (1952)
* Kingsley Books, Inc. v. Brown (1957)
* NAACP v. Button (1963)
* Freedman v. Maryland (1965)
* Hoffman Estates v. The Flipside, Hoffman Estates, Inc. (1982)
* Forsyth County v. Nationalist Movement (1992)

Commercial speech|

* Valentine v. Chrestensen (1942)
* Rowan v. U.S. Post Office Dept. (1970)
* Pittsburgh Press Co. v. Pittsburgh Comm'n on Human Relations (1973)
* Lehman v. Shaker Heights (1974)
* Goldfarb v. Virginia State Bar (1975)
* Bigelow v. Virginia (1975)
* Virginia State Pharmacy Bd. v. Virginia Citizens Consumer Council (1976)
* Linmark Assoc., Inc. v. Township of Willingboro (1977)
* Carey v. Population Services International (1977)
* Bates v. State Bar of Arizona (1977)
* In re Primus (1978)
* Ohralik v. Ohio State Bar Assn. (1978)
* Friedman v. Rogers (1979)
* Consol. Edison Co. v. Public Serv. Comm'n (1980)
* Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corp. v. Public Service Commission (1980)
* Metromedia, Inc. v. San Diego (1981)
* Hoffman Estates v. The Flipside, Hoffman Estates, Inc. (1982)
* Zauderer v. Off. of Disciplinary Counsel of Supreme Court of Ohio (1985)
* Pacific Gas & Electric Co. v. Public Utilities Comm'n of California (1986)
* Posadas de Puerto Rico Assoc. v. Tourism Co. of Puerto Rico (1986)
* San Francisco Arts & Athletics, Inc. v. U.S. Olympic Committee (1987)
* City of Cincinnati v. Discovery Network, Inc. (1993)
* Lebron v. National Railroad Passenger Corp. (1995)
* Florida Bar v. Went For It, Inc. (1995)
* 44 Liquormart, Inc. v. Rhode Island (1996)
* Lorillard Tobacco Co. v. Reilly (2001)
* Johanns v. Livestock Marketing Ass'n (2005)
* Sorrell v. IMS Health Inc. (2011)
* Expressions Hair Design v. Schneiderman (2017)
* Matal v. Tam (2017)
* Iancu v. Brunetti (2019)
* Barr v. American Association of Political Consultants (2020)
* Vidal v. Elster (2024)

Campaign finance
and political speech|

* Buckley v. Valeo (1976)
* First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti (1978)
* Citizens Against Rent Control v. City of Berkeley (1981)
* FEC v. National Conservative PAC (1985)
* FEC v. Massachusetts Citizens for Life (1986)
* Austin v. Michigan Chamber of Commerce (1990)
* Colorado Republican Federal Campaign Committee v. FEC (1996)
* Nixon v. Shrink Missouri Government PAC (2000)
* Republican Party of Minnesota v. White (2002)
* McConnell v. FEC (2003)
* Randall v. Sorrell (2006)
* FEC v. Wisconsin Right to Life, Inc. (2007)
* Davis v. FEC (2008)
* Citizens United v. FEC (2010)
* Nevada Commission on Ethics v. Carrigan (2011)
* Arizona Free Enterprise Club's Freedom Club PAC v. Bennett (2011)
* American Tradition Partnership, Inc. v. Bullock (2012)
* McCutcheon v. FEC (2014)
* Williams-Yulee v. Florida Bar (2015)
* Thompson v. Hebdon (2019)
* FEC v. Ted Cruz for Senate (2022)

Anonymous speech|

* NAACP v. Alabama (1958)
* Bates v. City of Little Rock (1960)
* Talley v. California (1960)
* Buckley v. Valeo (1976)
* Brown v. Socialist Workers '74 Campaign Committee (1982)
* McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Comm'n (1995)
* Doe v. Reed (2010)
* Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Bonta (2021)

State action|

* Marsh v. Alabama (1946)
* Lloyd Corp. v. Tanner (1972)
* Manhattan Community Access Corp. v. Halleck (2019)
* Lindke v. Freed (2024)
* Murthy v. Missouri (2024)

Official retaliation|

* Hartman v. Moore (2006)
* Wood v. Moss (2014)
* Lozman v. City of Riviera Beach (2018)
* Nieves v. Bartlett (2019)
* Egbert v. Boule (2022)
* Gonzalez v. Trevino (2024)
* National Rifle Association of America v. Vullo (2024)

Boycotts|

* NAACP v. Claiborne Hardware Co. (1982)

Prisons|

* Jones v. North Carolina Prisoners' Labor Union (1977)
* Turner v. Safley (1987)
* Shaw v. Murphy (2001)
* Beard v. Banks (2006)

* v
* t
* e

U.S. Supreme Court Freedom of the Press Clause case law

First Amendment to the United States Constitution

Prior restraints
and censorship|

* Patterson v. Colorado (1907)
* Near v. Minnesota (1931)
* Lovell v. City of Griffin (1938)
* Tucker v. Texas (1946)
* Hannegan v. Esquire, Inc. (1946)
* Lamont v. Postmaster General (1965)
* Sheppard v. Maxwell (1966)
* New York Times Co. v. United States (1971)
* Nebraska Press Ass'n v. Stuart (1976)
* Landmark Communications, Inc. v. Virginia (1978)
* Tory v. Cochran (2005)

Privacy|

* Time, Inc. v. Hill (1967)
* Cox Broadcasting Corp. v. Cohn (1975)
* Florida Star v. B. J. F. (1989)

Privileges|

* Branzburg v. Hayes (1972)
* Houchins v. KQED, Inc. (1978)
* Cohen v. Cowles Media Co. (1991)

Taxation and
antitrust laws|

* Grosjean v. American Press Co. (1936)
* Associated Press v. United States (1945)
* Minneapolis Star Tribune Co. v. Commissioner (1983)

Defamation
and obscenity|

* Beauharnais v. Illinois (1952)
* Smith v. California (1959)
* New York Times Co. v. Sullivan (1964)
* Curtis Publishing Co. v. Butts (1967)
* Greenbelt Cooperative Publishing Ass'n, Inc. v. Bresler (1970)
* Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc. (1974)
* Time, Inc. v. Firestone (1976)
* Bose Corp. v. Consumers Union of United States, Inc. (1984)
* Dun & Bradstreet, Inc. v. Greenmoss Builders, Inc. (1985)
* McDonald v. Smith (1985)
* Hustler Magazine v. Falwell (1988)
* Harte-Hanks Communications, Inc. v. Connaughton (1989)
* Milkovich v. Lorain Journal Co. (1990)

Broadcast media|

* Red Lion Broadcasting Co. v. FCC (1969)
* Miami Herald Publishing Co. v. Tornillo (1974)
* FCC v. Pacifica Foundation (1978)
* CBS, Inc. v. FCC (1981)
* Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. v. FCC (1994–1997)
* Bartnicki v. Vopper (2001)

Copyrighted materials|

* Zacchini v. Scripps-Howard Broadcasting Co. (1977)
* Harper & Row v. Nation Enterprises (1985)
* Eldred v. Ashcroft (2003)

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