Case Categories: Blasphemy and Profane Speech

These are First Amendment cases related to free speech and blasphemy or profane speech. Blasphemy laws have disappeared in the United States, but their remnants led to some early cases involving the First Amendment.

• Burstyn v. Wilson (1952)

  In Burstyn v. Wilson (1952), the Supreme Court said a New York law allowing a film to be banned on the basis of its being sacrilegious violated the First...

• Charles B. Reynolds Blasphemy Trial (New Jersey) (1887)

  A New Jersey jury in 1887 convicted a former Methodist minister for blasphemy despite a passion defense by leading attorney and freethinker Robert Ingersoll,...

• Commonwealth v. Kneeland (Mass.) (1838)

  Commonwealth v. Kneeland (Mass. 1838) was the last case in the United States in which a court sustained a conviction for blasphemy. Blasphemy is protected by...

• People v. Ruggles (N.Y.) (1811)

  People v. Ruggles (1811) is one of the few convictions for blasphemy in the U.S. despite a state constitution provision, similar to the First Amendment,...

• State v. Chandler (Del.) (1837)

  In early America, blasphemy was not protected by the First Amendment. State v. Chandler (Del. 1837) reasoned that blasphemy laws punished disturbances of the...

• Updegraph v. Commonwealth (Pa.) (1824)

  In 1824, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld a blasphemy conviction against a man who said the Bible was full of fables and lies. In Updegraph v. Commonwealth...