Pickering v. Board of Education

1968 United States Supreme Court case

Pickering v. Board of Education

Supreme Court of the United States

Argued March 27, 1968
Decided June 3, 1968
Full case name| Pickering v. Board of Education of Township High School District 205, Will County
Citations| 391 U.S. 563 (more)

88 S. Ct. 1731; 20 L. Ed. 2d 811; 1968 U.S. LEXIS 1471; 1 I.E.R. Cas. (BNA) 8

Case history
Prior| Dismissal upheld, Will County Circuit Court; affirmed, 225 N.E.2d 1 (Ill. 1967); rehearing denied, Ill. Mar. 27, 1967; probable jurisdiction noted, 389 U.S. 925 (1967).
Holding
The dismissal of a public school teacher for public statements regarding issues of public importance, without a showing that his statements were knowingly or recklessly false, violated his First Amendment right to free speech. Supreme Court of Illinois reversed and remanded.
Court membership

Chief Justice
Earl Warren
Associate Justices
Hugo Black * William O. Douglas
John M. Harlan II * William J. Brennan Jr.
Potter Stewart * Byron White
Abe Fortas * Thurgood Marshall
Case opinions
Majority| Marshall, joined by Warren, Harlan, Brennan, Stewart, Fortas
Concurrence| Douglas, Black
Concur/dissent| White
Laws applied
U.S. Const. amend. I

Pickering v. Board of Education, 391 U.S. 563 (1968), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that in the absence of proof of the teacher knowingly or recklessly making false statements the teacher had a right to speak on issues of public importance without being dismissed from their position.[1] The case was later distinguished by Garcetti v. Ceballos, where the Court held that statements by public employees made pursuant to their employment have no First Amendment protection.[2]

Pickering involved a Township High School teacher who was dismissed after writing a letter to a local newspaper which criticised how the Township Board of Education and the district superintendent had handled past proposals to raise new revenue for the schools. The claim that his writing the letter was protected by the First and Fourteenth Amendments was rejected by the Board of Education. He appealed the Board's action to the Circuit Court of Will County and then to the Supreme Court of Illinois, which both affirmed his dismissal. The Supreme Court of the United States agreed the teacher's First Amendment right to free speech was violated and reversed the decision of the Illinois Supreme Court.[1]

## Background of the case[edit]

In February 1961 the Township Board of Education asked the voters of Township High School District 205 to approve a bond issue to raise $4,875,000 to erect two new schools, which was defeated. In December 1961, the Board again submitted a bond proposal to the voters for $5,500,000 to build two new schools, which passed and the two schools were built with the money. In May 1964, the Board proposed and submitted to the voters an increase in the tax rate for educational purposes, which was defeated. On September 19, 1964, a second proposal to increase the tax rate was submitted by the Board, and was similarly defeated.

Prior to the vote on the September 1964 tax increase proposal, various newspaper articles appeared in the local paper which were attributed to the District 205 Teachers' Organization. Those articles urged passage of the proposal and stated that failure to pass the increase would result in a decline in the quality of education afforded children in the district's schools. Also, a letter making the same point from the superintendent of schools was published in the paper two days before the election, and copies of the letter were given to the voters the following day.

After the proposal failed, Marvin L. Pickering, appellant and a teacher in the District, wrote a letter to the editor in response to the material from the Teachers' Organization and the superintendent. The letter was an attack on the Board's handling of the 1961 bond proposals and its subsequent allocation of financial resources between the schools' educational and athletic programs. It also charged the superintendent of schools with trying to prevent teachers from speaking out against the proposed bond issue. Pickering was dismissed by the Board for writing and publishing the letter.

Under Illinois law, the Board was then required to hold a hearing on the dismissal where it stated that numerous statements in the letter were false and that the publication of the statements:

> unjustifiably impugned the "motives, honesty, integrity, truthfulness, responsibility and competence" of both the Board and the school administration. The Board also charged that the false statements damaged the professional reputations of its members and of the school administrators, would be disruptive of faculty discipline, and would tend to foment "controversy, conflict and dissension" among teachers, administrators, the Board of Education, and the residents of the district.[1]

A variety of witnesses on the truth or falsity of the particular statements in the letter with which the Board took issue. The Board found the statements to be false as charged. However, the Board made no further findings or introduced evidence that went beyond the falsity of Pickering's statements.

## Supreme Court[edit]

The Supreme Court held that the teacher's First Amendment right to free speech was violated and reversed the decision of the Illinois Supreme Court.[1] Justice Thurgood Marshall, writing for the majority, observed that the "problem in any case is to arrive at a balance between the interests of the teacher, as a citizen, in commenting upon matters of public concern and the interest of the State, as an employer, in promoting the efficiency of the public services it performs through its employees."[3][4]

## See also[edit]

* List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 391

## Notes[edit]

1. ^ a b c d Pickering v. Board of Education, 391 U.S. 563 (1968).
2. ^ Garcetti v. Ceballos, 547 U.S. 410 (2006).
3. ^ Pickering, 391 U.S. at 568.
4. ^ First Amendment Timeline, MTSU Free Speech Center (last visited January 20, 2020).

## External links[edit]

* Works related to Pickering v. Board of Education at Wikisource
* Text of Pickering v. Board of Education, 391 U.S. 563 (1968) is available from: CourtListener Findlaw Google Scholar Justia Library of Congress Oyez (oral argument audio)
* "Pickering still rules roost in First Amendment law," Fire Chief, June 1, 2002. Accessed July 27, 2007.

* v
* t
* e

United States First Amendment case law

Establishment Clause

| Public displays
and ceremonies|

* Marsh v. Chambers (1983)
* Lynch v. Donnelly (1984)
* Board of Trustees of Scarsdale v. McCreary (1985)
* County of Allegheny v. American Civil Liberties Union (1989)
* Van Orden v. Perry (2005)
* McCreary County v. American Civil Liberties Union (2005)
* Pleasant Grove City v. Summum (2009)
* Salazar v. Buono (2010)
* Town of Greece v. Galloway (2014)
* American Legion v. American Humanist Association (2019)

|

Statutory religious
exemptions|

* Walz v. Tax Comm'n of the City of New York (1970)
* California v. Grace Brethren Church (1982)
* Bob Jones University v. United States (1983)
* Estate of Thornton v. Caldor, Inc. (1985)
* Corp. of Presiding Bishop v. Amos (1987)
* Texas Monthly, Inc. v. Bullock (1989)
* City of Boerne v. Flores (1997)
* Cutter v. Wilkinson (2005)

Public funding|

* Cochran v. Board of Education (1930)
* Everson v. Board of Education (1947)
* Flast v. Cohen (1968)
* Board of Ed. of Central School Dist. No. 1 v. Allen (1968)
* Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971)
* Tilton v. Richardson (1971)
* Lemon v. Kurtzman II (1973)
* Levitt v. Committee for Public Education and Religious Liberty (1973)
* Hunt v. McNair (1973)
* Committee for Public Education v. Nyquist (1973)
* Sloan v. Lemon (1973)
* Wheeler v. Barrera (1974)
* Public Funds for Public Schools v. Marburger (1974)
* Meek v. Pittenger (1975)
* Roemer v. Board of Public Works of Maryland (1976)
* Wolman v. Walter (1977)
* New York v. Cathedral Academy (1977)
* Committee for Public Education and Religious Liberty v. Regan (1980)
* Valley Forge Christian College v. Americans United for Separation of Church & State (1982)
* Mueller v. Allen (1983)
* School Dist. of Grand Rapids v. Ball (1985)
* Aguilar v. Felton (1985)
* Witters v. Washington Department of Services for the Blind (1986)
* Zobrest v. Catalina Foothills School District (1993)
* Board of Ed. of Kiryas Joel Village School Dist. v. Grumet (1994)
* Agostini v. Felton (1997)
* Mitchell v. Helms (2000)
* Zelman v. Simmons-Harris (2002)
* Locke v. Davey (2004)
* Arizona Christian Sch. Tuition Org. v. Winn (2011)
* Trinity Lutheran Church v. Comer (2017)
* Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue (2020)
* Carson v. Makin (2022)

Religion in
public schools|

* McCollum v. Board of Education (1948)
* Zorach v. Clauson (1952)
* Engel v. Vitale (1962)
* Abington School District v. Schempp (1963)
* Epperson v. Arkansas (1968)
* Stone v. Graham (1980)
* Wallace v. Jaffree (1985)
* Edwards v. Aguillard (1987)
* Westside Community Board of Ed. v. Mergens (1990)
* Lee v. Weisman (1992)
* Santa Fe Ind. School Dist. v. Doe (2000)
* Elk Grove Unif. School Dist. v. Newdow (2004)
* Kennedy v. Bremerton School Dist. (2022)

Private religious speech|

* Lamb's Chapel v. Center Moriches Union Free School Dist. (1993)
* Capitol Square Review & Advisory Board v. Pinette (1995)
* Rosenberger v. Univ. of Virginia (1995)
* Good News Club v. Milford Central School (2001)
* Shurtleff v. City of Boston (2022)
* Kennedy v. Bremerton School Dist. (2022)

Internal church affairs|

* Watson v. Jones (1872)
* Gonzalez v. Roman Catholic Archbishop of Manila (1929)
* United States v. Ballard (1944)
* Kedroff v. St. Nicholas Cathedral (1952)
* Kreshik v. St. Nicholas Cathedral (1960)
* Presbyterian Church v. Hull Church (1969)
* Serbian Eastern Orthodox Diocese v. Milivojevich (1976)
* Jones v. Wolf (1979)
* Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Juan v. Acevedo Feliciano (2020)

Taxpayer standing|

* Flast v. Cohen (1968)
* Valley Forge Christian College v. Americans United for Separation of Church & State (1982)
* Hein v. Freedom From Religion Foundation (2007)
* Arizona Christian Sch. Tuition Org. v. Winn (2011)

Blue laws|

* McGowan v. Maryland (1961)
* Two Guys from Harrison-Allentown, Inc. v. McGinley (1961)
* Braunfeld v. Brown (1961)
* Estate of Thornton v. Caldor, Inc. (1985)

Other|

* Torcaso v. Watkins (1961)
* McDaniel v. Paty (1978)
* Harris v. McRae (1980)
* Larkin v. Grendel's Den, Inc. (1982)
* Larson v. Valente (1982)
* Bowen v. Kendrick (1988)
* Swaggart Ministries v. Board of Equalization (1989)
* Board of Ed. of Kiryas Joel Village School Dist. v. Grumet (1994)
* Trump v. Hawaii (2018)

Free Exercise Clause

* Reynolds v. United States (1879)
* Davis v. Beason (1890)
* Cantwell v. Connecticut (1940)
* Minersville School District v. Gobitis (1940)
* Jamison v. Texas (1943)
* Murdock v. Pennsylvania (1943)
* Tucker v. Texas (1946)
* Niemotko v. Maryland (1951)
* Kunz v. New York (1951)
* Fowler v. Rhode Island (1953)
* Braunfeld v. Brown (1961)
* Gallagher v. Crown Kosher Super Market of Massachusetts, Inc. (1961)
* Torcaso v. Watkins (1961)
* Sherbert v. Verner (1963)
* Cruz v. Beto (1972)
* Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972)
* McDaniel v. Paty (1978)
* Heffron v. International Society for Krishna Consciousness, Inc. (1981)
* Thomas v. Review Board (1981)
* United States v. Lee (1982)
* Bob Jones University v. United States (1983)
* Bowen v. Roy (1986)
* Goldman v. Weinberger (1986)
* O'Lone v. Estate of Shabazz (1987)
* Frazee v. Illinois Department of Employment Security (1989)
* Swaggart Ministries v. Board of Equalization (1989)
* Employment Division v. Smith (1990)
* Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah (1993)
* Watchtower Society v. Village of Stratton (2002)
* Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission (2018)
* Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn v. Cuomo (2020)
* Tandon v. Newsom (2021)
* Fulton v. City of Philadelphia (2021)
* Kennedy v. Bremerton School Dist. (2022)

| Exclusion of religion
from public benefits|

* Locke v. Davey (2004)
* Trinity Lutheran Church v. Comer (2017)
* Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue (2020)
* Carson v. Makin (2022)

|

Ministerial exception|

* NLRB v. Catholic Bishop of Chicago (1979)
* Hosanna-Tabor v. EEOC (2012)
* Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru (2020)

Statutory religious exemptions|

| RFRA|

* Gonzales v. O Centro Espírita Beneficente União do Vegetal (2006)
* Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. (2014)
* Zubik v. Burwell (2016)
* Little Sisters of the Poor Saints Peter and Paul Home v. Pennsylvania (2020)
* Tanzin v. Tanvir (2020)

|

RLUIPA|

* Sossamon v. Texas (2011)
* Holt v. Hobbs (2015)
* Ramirez v. Collier (2022)

Freedom of speech (portal)

| Unprotected
speech|

| Incitement
and sedition|

* Alien and Sedition Acts (1798)
* Masses Publishing Co. v. Patten (S.D.N.Y. 1917)
* 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, clear and present danger)
* Bond v. Floyd (1966)
* Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969, imminent lawless action)
* Hess v. Indiana (1973)

|

Libel 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|

* Watts v. United States (1969)
* Virginia v. Black (2003)
* Elonis v. United States (2015)
* Counterman v. Colorado (2023)

Obscenity|

* Rosen v. United States (1896)
* United States v. One Book Called Ulysses (S.D.N.Y. 1933)
* 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)
* Southeastern Promotions, Ltd. v. Conrad (1975)
* Erznoznik v. City of Jacksonville (1975)
* Young v. American Mini Theatres, Inc. (1976)
* Vance v. Universal Amusement Co., Inc. (1980)
* American Booksellers Ass'n, Inc. v. Hudnut (7th Cir. 1985)
* 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. ACLU I (2002)
* United States v. American Library Ass'n (2003)
* Ashcroft v. ACLU II (2004)
* Nitke v. Gonzales (S.D.N.Y. 2005)
* United States v. Williams (2008)
* American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression v. Strickland (6th Cir. 2009)
* United States v. Kilbride (9th Cir. 2009)
* United States v. Stevens (2010)
* Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Ass'n (2011)
* FCC v. Fox Television Stations, Inc. (2012)

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)

Vagueness|

* 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)
* Butterworth v. Smith (1990)
* 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)
* Renton v. Playtime Theatres, Inc. (1986)
* City of Ladue v. Gilleo (1994)
* Packingham v. North Carolina (2017)

| 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)
* USPS v. Council of Greenburgh Civic Assns. (1981)
* United States v. Grace (1983)
* 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)
* Brown v. Glines (1980)
* Perry Education Association v. Perry Local Educators' Association (1983)
* Cornelius v. NAACP Legal Defense Fund (1985)
* International Society for Krishna Consciousness, Inc. v. Lee (1992)
* 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|

* Ry. Emps. Department v. Hanson (1956)
* Machinists v. Street (1961)
* Abood v. Detroit Board of Education (1977)
* Ellis v. Railway Clerks (1984)
* Chicago Local Teachers Union v. Hudson (1986)
* Communications Workers of America v. Beck (1988)
* Keller v. State Bar of California (1990)
* Lehnert v. Ferris Faculty Ass'n (1991)
* Glickman v. Wileman Brothers & Elliot, Inc. (1997)
* Board of Regents of the Univ. of Wisconsin System v. Southworth (2000)
* United States v. United Foods Inc. (2001)
* Johanns v. Livestock Marketing Ass'n (2005)
* Davenport v. Washington Education Ass'n (2007)
* Locke v. Karass (2008)
* Ysursa v. Pocatello Education Association (2009)
* Knox v. SEIU, Local 1000 (2012)
* Harris v. Quinn (2014)
* Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association (2016)
* Janus v. AFSCME (2018)

| Compelled representation|

* Steele v. Louisville & N.R. Co (1944)
* Minnesota Board for Community Colleges v. Knight (1984)

|

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 I (2013)
* USAID v. Alliance for Open Society II (2020)

Government
as speaker|

* 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 Assn. (2001)
* Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Assn. v. Brentwood Academy (2007)
* 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)
* Smith v. Arkansas State Hwy. Employees Local (1979)
* Connick v. Myers (1983)
* Rankin v. McPherson (1987)
* Rutan v. Republican Party of Illinois (1990)
* Waters v. Churchill (1994)
* Board of Comm'rs, Wabaunsee Cty. v. Umbehr (1996)
* Brentwood Academy v. Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Assn. (2001)
* Garcetti v. Ceballos (2006)
* Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Assn. v. Brentwood Academy (2007)
* 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)
* Railroad Trainmen v. Virginia Bar (1964)
* Freedman v. Maryland (1965)
* Mine Workers v. Illinois Bar Assn. (1967)
* Heffron v. International Society for Krishna Consciousness, Inc. (1981)
* Hoffman Estates v. The Flipside, Hoffman Estates, Inc. (1982)
* Riley v. Nat'l Fed'n of the Blind (1988)
* 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 Association (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)
* In re R.M.J. (1982)
* 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)
* Shapero v. Kentucky Bar Association (1988)
* Riley v. Nat'l Fed'n of the Blind (1988)
* State University of New York v. Fox (1989)
* Peel v. Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission of Illinois (1990)
* City of Cincinnati v. Discovery Network (1993)
* Edenfield v. Fane (1993)
* United States v. Edge Broadcasting Co. (1993)
* Ibanez v. Florida Dept. of Business and Professional Regulation, Bd. of Accountancy (1994)
* Lebron v. National Railroad Passenger Corp. (1995)
* Rubin v. Coors Brewing Co. (1995)
* Florida Bar v. Went For It, Inc. (1995)
* 44 Liquormart, Inc. v. Rhode Island (1996)
* Glickman v. Wileman Brothers & Elliot, Inc. (1997)
* Greater New Orleans Broadcasting Assn., Inc. v. United States (1999)
* Los Angeles Police Department v. United Reporting Publishing Co. (1999)
* United States v. United Foods Inc. (2001)
* Lorillard Tobacco Co. v. Reilly (2001)
* Thompson v. Western States Medical Center (2002)
* Nike, Inc. v. Kasky (2003)
* Johanns v. Livestock Marketing Ass'n (2005)
* Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Assn. v. Brentwood Academy (2007)
* Milavetz, Gallop & Milavetz, P.A. v. United States (2010)
* Jerman v. Carlisle, McNellie, Rini, Kramer & Ulrich LPA (2010)
* 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)
* California Medical Association v. FEC (1981)
* Citizens Against Rent Control v. City of Berkeley (1981)
* FEC v. National Right to Work Committee (1982)
* FEC v. National Conservative PAC (1985)
* FEC v. Massachusetts Citizens for Life (1986)
* Eu v. S.F. Cty. Democratic Cent. Comm. (1989)
* Austin v. Michigan Chamber of Commerce (1990)
* Colorado Republican Federal Campaign Committee v. FEC (1996)
* Nixon v. Shrink Missouri Government PAC (2000)
* FEC v. Colorado Republican Federal Campaign Committee (2001)
* Republican Party of Minnesota v. White (2002)
* FEC v. Beaumont (2003)
* McConnell v. FEC (2003)
* Wisconsin Right to Life, Inc. v. FEC (2006)
* 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)
* 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)
* O'Connor-Ratcliff v. Garnier (2024)
* Murthy v. Missouri

Official retaliation|

* Hartman v. Moore (2006)
* Reichle v. Howards (2012)
* 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)
* FTC v. Superior Ct. TLA (1990)

Prisons|

* Procunier v. Martinez (1974)
* Jones v. North Carolina Prisoners' Union (1977)
* Turner v. Safley (1987)
* Shaw v. Murphy (2001)
* Overton v. Bazzetta (2003)
* Beard v. Banks (2006)

Freedom of the press

| 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)
* New York Times Co. v. United States (1971)
* Pell v. Procunier (1974)
* Nebraska Press Ass'n v. Stuart (1976)
* Landmark Communications, Inc. v. Virginia (1978)
* Lowe v. SEC (1985)
* Tory v. Cochran (2005)

|

Privacy|

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

Taxation and
privileges|

* Grosjean v. American Press Co. (1936)
* Branzburg v. Hayes (1972)
* Houchins v. KQED, Inc. (1978)
* Minneapolis Star Tribune Co. v. Commissioner (1983)
* Arkansas Writers' Project v. Ragland (1987)
* Cohen v. Cowles Media Co. (1991)

Defamation|

* Beauharnais v. Illinois (1952)
* 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)
* Obsidian Finance Group, LLC v. Cox (9th Cir. 2014)

Broadcast media|

* Red Lion Broadcasting Co. v. FCC (1969)
* FCC v. Pacifica Foundation (1978)
* FCC v. WNCN Listeners Guild (1981)
* Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. v. FCC I (1994)
* Denver Area Ed. Telecommunications Consortium, Inc. v. FCC (1996)
* Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. v. FCC II (1997)
* Bartnicki v. Vopper (2001)

Copyrighted materials|

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

Freedom of assembly

| Incorporation|

* United States v. Cruikshank (1876)
* Presser v. Illinois (1886)

|

Protection from prosecution
and state restrictions|

* De Jonge v. Oregon (1937)
* Thomas v. Collins (1945)
* Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Bonta (2021)

Freedom of association

| Organizations|

* Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee v. McGrath (1951)
* Watkins v. United States (1957)
* NAACP v. Alabama (1958)
* Bates v. City of Little Rock (1960)
* NAACP v. Button (1963)
* Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Bonta (2021)

|

Future Conduct|

* Baggett v. Bullitt (1964)

Solicitation|

* In re Primus (1978)

Membership restriction|

* Hishon v. King & Spalding (1984)
* Roberts v. United States Jaycees (1984)
* Rotary Int'l v. Rotary Club of Duarte (1987)
* New York Club Ass'n v. City of New York (1988)
* Dallas v. Stanglin (1989)
* Hurley v. Irish-American Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Group of Boston (1995)
* Boy Scouts of America v. Dale (2000)
* Christian Legal Society v. Martinez (2010)

Primaries and elections|

* Cousins v. Wigoda (1975)
* Democratic Party v. Wisconsin (1981)
* Tashjian v. Republican Party (1986)
* Timmons v. Twin Cities Area New Party (1997)
* California Democratic Party v. Jones (2000)
* Clingman v. Beaver (2005)
* New York State Board of Elections v. Lopez Torres (2008)
* Washington State Grange v. Washington State Republican Party (2008)

Freedom to petition

* United States v. Cruikshank (1876)
* Thomas v. Collins (1945)
* Eastern Railroad Presidents Conference v. Noerr Motor Freight, Inc. (1961)
* NAACP v. Button (1963)
* Edwards v. South Carolina (1963)
* United Mine Workers v. Pennington (1965)
* Cox v. Louisiana (1965)
* California Motor Transport Co. v. Trucking Unlimited (1972)
* Smith v. Arkansas State Highway Employees (1979)
* McDonald v. Smith (1985)
* Meyer v. Grant (1988)
* Buckley v. American Constitutional Law Foundation (1999)
* BE and K Construction Co. v. National Labor Relations Board (2002)
* Doe v. Reed (2010)
* Borough of Duryea v. Guarnieri (2011)

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