Case Categories: Freedom of the Press

• Associated Press v. National Labor Relations Board (1937)

  Associated Press v. National Labor Relations Board (1937) upheld the application of a labor law to the Associated Press, saying press had no special exemption...

• Associated Press v. United States (1945)

  Associated Press v. United States (1945) upheld an injunction against The Associated Press for violating anti-trust laws, saying the anti-trust law promoted the...

• Barber v. Time (1942)

  Barber v. Time (Mo. 1942) ruled that press freedom and individual privacy are not absolute rights and must be balanced. Courts must consider the "proper public...

• Bartnicki v. Vopper (2001)

  In Bartnicki v. Vopper (2001), the Supreme Court found that the First Amendment protects speech that discloses the contents of an illegally intercepted...

• Bridges v. California (1941)

  Bridges v. California (1941) used the First Amendment to overturn contempt convictions against a newspaper and an individual who had criticized judicial...

• Craig v. Harney (1947)

  In Craig v. Harney (1947), the Court overturned contempt of court convictions against three Texas Journalist on grounds of First Amendment free speech and press...

• Department of Justice v. Reporters Committee For Freedom of the Press (1989)

  DOJ v. Reporters Comm. for Free Press (1989) reiterated that the First Amendment does not give the press special access to information not available to the...

• Department of the Air Force v. Rose (1976)

  Department of Air Force v. Rose (1976) looked at privacy rights in interpreting the FOIA to require disclosure of summaries of ethics hearings at the Air Force...

• Florida Star v. B.J.F. (1989)

  In Florida Star v. B.J.F. (1989), the Supreme Court said the First Amendment stopped a newspaper from being held liable for publishing a rape victim's name...

• Gitlow v. New York (1925)

  In Gitlow v. New York, the Court applied free speech and press protection to the states through the due process clause of the the Fourteenth Amendment...

• Grosjean v. American Press Co. (1936)

  In Grosjean v. American Press Co. (1936), the Supreme Court invalidated a law that imposed a tax on the gross receipts of newspapers with larger circulations...

• Hartzel v. United States (1944)

  Hartzel v. United States (1944) overturned a conviction under the Espionage Act of 1917, shifting toward tolerance of First Amendment speech criticizing the war...

• Landmark Communications, Inc. v. Virginia (1978)

  Landmark Communications Inc. v. Virginia (1978) said punishing the press for divulging information from a judicial commission violated the First Amendment...

• Lowe v. Securities and Exchange Commission (1985)

  Lowe v. SEC (1985) ruled that under the First Amendment, the Securities and Exchange Commission could not prevent a financial manager from publishing an...

• Mabee v. White Plains Publishing Co. (1946)

  Mabee v. White Plains Publishing Co. (1946) emphasized that First Amendment protections for freedom of the press do not exempt them from general governmental...

• Masses Publishing Co. v. Patten (S.D.N.Y) (1917)

  Masses Publishing Co. v. Patten (S.D.N.Y. 1917) stands as testament to Judge Learned Hand's attempt to maintain First Amendment freedoms during World War I...

• Mills v. Alabama (1966)

  In Mills v. Alabama (1966), the Court concluded that a state law placing criminal liability on an election day newspaper editorial violated the First Amendment...

• Near v. Minnesota (1931)

  Near v. Minnesota (1931) fashioned the First Amendment doctrine opposing prior restraint and reaffirmed that the incorporation of the First Amendment...

• Nebraska Press Association v. Stuart (1976)

  In Nebraska Press Association v. Stuart (1976), the Court ruled that a gag order prior to jury impanelment violated the First Amendment right of freedom of the...

• New York Times Co. v. United States (1971)

  New York Times Co. v. United States (1971), also called the "Pentagon Papers" case, defended the First Amendment right of free press against prior restraint by...

• Oklahoma Press Publishing Co. v. Walling (1946)

  Oklahoma Press Publishing Co. v. Walling (1946) said a wage-hour administrator could issue a subpoena to a newspaper without violating the First Amendment...

• Organization for a Better Austin v. Keefe (1971)

  Organization for a Better Austin v. Keefe (1971) held that those seeking a prior restraint on expression carry a heavy burden to show justification for the...

• Patterson v. Colorado (1907)

  Patterson v. Colorado (1907), which upheld a contempt citation against a paper that criticized a state supreme court, has been superseded by new First Amendment...

• Pennekamp v. Florida (1946)

  Pennekamp v. Florida (1946) overturned a contempt citation issued to an editor of the Miami Herald. The Court found that the contempt citation violated the...

• Regan v. Time, Inc. (1984)

  When Sports Illustrated ran afoul of a counterfeiting law, Regan v. Time, Inc. (1984) said the law was not a reasonable restriction on speech and violated the...

• Schaefer v. United States (1920)

  Schaefer v. United States (1920), which upheld convictions for reports hindering the war effort, was representative of setbacks to First Amendment freedoms...

• Seattle Times Co. v. Rhinehart (1984)

  Seattle Times v. Rhinehart (1984) said that an order prohibiting a newspaper from publishing material it received during a lawsuit discovery did not violate the...

• Smith v. Daily Mail Publishing Co. (1979)

  Smith v. Daily Mail Publishing (1979) said a West Virginia law that criminalized the publication of a juvenile offender's name violated the First Amendment...

• State v. McKee (Conn.) (1900)

  State v. McKee (Conn. 1900) offered an early look at how state courts viewed freedom of the press before the Supreme Court applied First Amendment protections...

• Swearingen v. United States (1896)

  The First Amendment case Swearingen v. United States (1896) overturned the conviction of a newspaper publisher who mailed a newspaper with an allegedly obscene...

• Toledo Newspaper Co. v. United States (1918)

  Toledo Newspaper Co. v. United States (1918), which upheld a contempt citation a judge had issued to a newspaper, reflected early views on First Amendment...

• United States ex rel. Milwaukee Social Democratic Publishing Co. v. Burleson (1921)

  Milwaukee Social Democratic Publishing Co. v. Burleson (1921) denied mailing privileges to a socialist newspaper. Dissenters said the decision violated the...

• United States v. Morison (4th Cir.) (1988)

  United States v. Morison (4th Cir. 1988) upheld the conviction of a Navy employee who had leaked top secret photos. Judges ruled the leak was not protected by...

• United States v. Progressive Inc. (W.D. Wis.) (1979)

  United States v. Progressive Inc. (W.D. Wis. 1979), which dealt with the First Amendment, is one of the few times the American press has been restrained from...

• Zurcher v. Stanford Daily (1978)

  Zurcher v. Stanford Daily (1978) held that the First Amendment’s freedom of the press does not bar the execution of a probable cause search warrant against...