Branzburg v. Hayes et al., Judges

Decided June 29, 1972. Byron Raymond White delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 70-85 · 408 U.S. 665 (1972) · Cited 2,202 times

We don’t yet publish a summary of this opinion — read the official text below for the Court’s holding and reasoning.

How the Justices voted

Decided 5–4.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. Source: the Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.), Washington University.

Precedents cited

Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.

• Watkins v. United States · 354 U.S. 178 (1957)
• New York Times Co. v. Sullivan · 376 U.S. 254 (1964)
• National Ass'n for the Advancement of Colored People v. Button · 371 U.S. 415 (1963)
• Gibson v. Florida Legislative Investigation Committee · 372 U.S. 539 (1963)
• National Ass'n for the Advancement of Colored People v. Alabama Ex Rel. Patterson · 357 U.S. 449 (1958)
• Grosjean v. American Press Co. · 297 U.S. 233 (1936)
• Zemel v. Rusk · 381 U.S. 1 (1965)
• Sweezy v. New Hampshire Ex Rel. Wyman · 354 U.S. 234 (1957)
• Bates v. City of Little Rock · 361 U.S. 516 (1960)
• Talley v. California · 362 U.S. 60 (1960)
• United States v. Bryan · 339 U.S. 323 (1950)
• Costello v. United States · 350 U.S. 359 (1956)
• Uphaus v. Wyman · 360 U.S. 72 (1959)
• Roviaro v. United States · 353 U.S. 53 (1957)
• Sheppard v. Maxwell · 384 U.S. 333 (1966)
• Shelton v. Tucker · 364 U.S. 479 (1960)
• Smith v. California · 361 U.S. 147 (1959)
• Associated Press v. United States · 326 U.S. 1 (1945)
• Cantwell v. Connecticut · 310 U.S. 296 (1940)
• Schneider v. State (Town of Irvington) · 308 U.S. 147 (1939)
• McCray v. Illinois · 386 U.S. 300 (1967)
• New York Times Co. v. United States · 403 U.S. 713 (1971)
• Baird v. State Bar of Arizona · 401 U.S. 1 (1971)
• Thornhill v. Alabama · 310 U.S. 88 (1940)
• Curtis Publishing Co. v. Butts · 388 U.S. 130 (1967)
• Garrison v. Louisiana · 379 U.S. 64 (1964)
• Estes v. Texas · 381 U.S. 532 (1965)
• Near v. Minnesota Ex Rel. Olson · 283 U.S. 697 (1931)
• Freedman v. Maryland · 380 U.S. 51 (1965)
• Stromberg v. California · 283 U.S. 359 (1931)

Cited by

Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.

• Houchins v. KQED, Inc. · 438 U.S. 1 (1978)
• Saxbe v. Washington Post Co. · 417 U.S. 843 (1974)
• Zurcher v. Stanford Daily · 436 U.S. 547 (1978)
• Nebraska Press Assn. v. Stuart · 427 U.S. 539 (1976)
• Pell v. Procunier · 417 U.S. 817 (1974)
• University of Pennsylvania v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission · 493 U.S. 182 (1990)
• United States v. Calandra · 414 U.S. 338 (1974)
• United States v. Dionisio · 410 U.S. 1 (1973)
• Cohen v. Cowles Media Co. · 501 U.S. 663 (1991)
• Richmond Newspapers, Inc. v. Virginia · 448 U.S. 555 (1980)
• Press-Enterprise Co. v. Superior Court of Cal., County of Riverside · 478 U.S. 1 (1986)
• Herbert v. Lando · 441 U.S. 153 (1979)
• United States v. Sells Engineering, Inc. · 463 U.S. 418 (1983)
• Gannett Co. v. DePasquale · 443 U.S. 368 (1979)
• Dun & Bradstreet, Inc. v. Greenmoss Builders, Inc. · 472 U.S. 749 (1985)
• Minneapolis Star & Tribune Co. v. Minnesota Commissioner of Revenue · 460 U.S. 575 (1983)
• Smith v. Daily Mail Publishing Co. · 443 U.S. 97 (1979)
• Trump v. Vance · 591 U.S. 786 (2020)
• Smith v. Maryland · 442 U.S. 735 (1979)
• Press-Enterprise Co. v. Superior Court of Cal., Riverside Cty. · 464 U.S. 501 (1984)
• Roberts v. United States · 445 U.S. 552 (1980)
• Pittsburgh Press Co. v. Pittsburgh Commission on Human Relations · 413 U.S. 376 (1973)
• United States v. Mandujano · 425 U.S. 564 (1976)
• Swidler & Berlin v. United States · 524 U.S. 399 (1998)
• United States v. Mara · 410 U.S. 19 (1973)
• United States v. R. Enterprises, Inc. · 498 U.S. 292 (1991)
• Butterworth v. Smith · 494 U.S. 624 (1990)
• United States v. Nixon · 418 U.S. 683 (1974)
• Thornburgh v. Abbott · 490 U.S. 401 (1989)
• Minnesota v. Murphy · 465 U.S. 420 (1984)

Official text

Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)

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Source: the U.S. Reports via govinfo.gov; authoring Justice and vote lineup from the Supreme Court Database (Washington University). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-07-03. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).