Butterworth, Attorney General of Florida, et al. v. Smith

Decided March 21, 1990. William Hubbs Rehnquist delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 88-1993 · 494 U.S. 624 (1990) · Cited 145 times

Holding

Section 905.27 violates the First Amendment insofar as it prohibits a grand jury witness from disclosing his own testimony after the grand jury's term has ended.

The Court’s statement of the holding, from the opinion’s syllabus. The syllabus is prepared by the Reporter of Decisions and is not part of the opinion of the Court — read the official opinion for authority.

How the Justices voted

Decided 9–0.

“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.

• Landmark Communications, Inc. v. Virginia · 435 U.S. 829 (1978)
• Branzburg v. Hayes · 408 U.S. 665 (1972)
• Seattle Times Co. v. Rhinehart · 467 U.S. 20 (1984)
• Douglas Oil Co. of Cal. v. Petrol Stops Northwest · 441 U.S. 211 (1979)
• Wood v. Georgia · 370 U.S. 375 (1962)
• Florida Star v. B. J. F. · 491 U.S. 524 (1989)
• United States v. Dionisio · 410 U.S. 1 (1973)
• United States v. Procter & Gamble Co. · 356 U.S. 677 (1958)
• Smith v. Daily Mail Publishing Co. · 443 U.S. 97 (1979)
• Oklahoma Publishing Co. v. District Court in & for Oklahoma County · 430 U.S. 308 (1977)

Cited by

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

• Gentile v. State Bar of Nev. · 501 U.S. 1030 (1991)
• Osborne v. Ohio · 495 U.S. 103 (1990)
• Bartnicki v. Vopper · 532 U.S. 514 (2001)

Official text

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

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1990). 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).