Case Categories: Jurisdictional and Standing Issues in First Amendment Cases

• Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v. Winn (2011)

  Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v. Winn (2011) denied standing to a group of taxpayers who raised a First Amendment objection to a system of tax...

• Bender v. Williamsport Area School District (1986)

  Bender v. Williamsport Area School District (1986) highlighted the importance of standing for anyone wishing to challenge perceived violations of the First...

• Bill Johnson's Restaurants, Inc. v. National Labor Relations Board (1983)

  Bill Johnson’s Restaurants, Inc. v. NLRB (1983) vacated an NLRB decision halting a libel suit. It implicated First Amendment freedoms of petition and press...

• Bose Corp. v. Consumers Union of United States, Inc. (1984)

  Bose Corp. v. Consumers Union of United States, Inc. (1984) overturned the libel conviction of a magazine. Appeals courts hearing libel cases must independently...

• Davis v. Federal Election Commission (2008)

  Davis v. Federal Election Commission (2008) struck down the "Millionaire's Amendment" of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act for violating the First Amendment...

• Doe v. Gonzales (2005)

  In Doe v. Gonzales (2005), Justice Ginsburg upheld part of the USA Patriot Act barring librarians from disclosing that the FBI had requested patron information...

• Doran v. Salem Inn (1975)

  Doran v. Salem Inn (1975) considered a First Amendment challenge to an ordinance banning topless dancing in nightclubs. The ruling touched briefly on freedom of...

• Doremus v. Board of Education (1952)

  Doremus v. Board of Education (1952) said a parent and taxpayer who raised a First Amendment challenge to daily Bible reading in a public school had no standing...

• Douglas v. City of Jeannette (1943)

  In Douglas v. City of Jeannette (1943), the Supreme Court focused on the jurisdiction of federal courts in First Amendment cases during pending state...

• Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow (2004)

  Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow (2004) avoided addressing whether the words “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance violated the First Amendment...

• Farmers Educational and Cooperative Union of America, North Dakota Division v. WDAY, Inc. (1959)

  Farmers Educational and Cooperative Union of America v. WDAY (1959), did not mention the First Amendment, but involved a libel issue dealing with right of reply...

• Flast v. Cohen (1968)

  Flast v. Cohen (1968) said that taxpayers had standing under the First Amendment to sue to prevent the use of their taxes to fund religious instruction...

• Hein v. Freedom from Religion Foundation (2007)

  Hein v. Freedom from Religion Foundation (2007) decided that taxpayers can't raise a First Amendment challenge to executive branch expenditures on faith-based...

• Liles v. Oregon (1976)

  In Liles v. Oregon (1976), which raised First Amendment obscenity issues, the Court denied a writ of certiorari. A dissent by Justice Brennan involved the...

• Pennsylvania v. Nelson (1956)

  Pennsylvania v. Nelson (1956) addresses federal preemption and illustrates how the Court protected civil liberties such as the First Amendment during the era of...

• Perez v. Ledesma (1971)

  Perez v. Ledesma (1971), one of a series of cases decided with Younger v. Harris, arose from district court decisions granting relief against an obscenity...

• Samuels v. Mackell (1971)

  In Samuels v. Mackell (1971), the Supreme Court refused to look at the constitutionality of state anarchy laws. One justice said the First Amendment does not...

• United States v. Smith (Ind.) (1909)

  A federal district judge in 1909 stopped the prosecution of the Indianapolis Star for allegedly libelous stories about President Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt...

• Valley Forge Christian College v. Americans United for Separation of Church and State (1982)

  Valley Forge Christian College v. Americans United for Separation of Church and State (1982) limited suits brought to prevent expenditures that might violate...

• W.E.B. DuBois Clubs of America v. Clark (1967)

  The Supreme Court in 1967 rejected a claim by the W.E.B. Dubois Clubs of America, the youth arm of the Communist Party in the United States, that the McCarran...

• Walker v. City of Birmingham (1967)

  In Walker v. City of Birmingham (1967), the Court refused to look at whether a court order against Birmingham civil rights protestors violated the First...

• Younger v. Harris (1971)

  In 1978, the Supreme Court limited when federal courts could enjoin state prosecution involving state laws argued to violate the First Amendment. In Younger v....