Charles W. Burson, Attorney General and Reporter for Tennessee v. Mary Rebecca Freeman

Decided May 26, 1992. Harry Andrew Blackmun delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 90-1056 · 504 U.S. 191 (1992) · Cited 765 times

Holding

The judgment is reversed, and the case is remanded.

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

“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.

• Mills v. Alabama · 384 U.S. 214 (1966)
• Simon & Schuster, Inc. v. Members of the New York State Crime Victims Board · 502 U.S. 105 (1991)
• Sheppard v. Maxwell · 384 U.S. 333 (1966)
• Dunn v. Blumstein · 405 U.S. 330 (1972)
• Ward v. Rock Against Racism · 491 U.S. 781 (1989)
• Baker v. Carr · 369 U.S. 186 (1962)
• Buckley v. Valeo · 424 U.S. 1 (1976)
• Perry Education Ass'n v. Perry Local Educators' Ass'n · 460 U.S. 37 (1983)
• Eu v. San Francisco County Democratic Central Committee · 489 U.S. 214 (1989)
• Munro v. Socialist Workers Party · 479 U.S. 189 (1986)
• Clark v. Community for Creative Non-Violence · 468 U.S. 288 (1984)
• Anderson v. Celebrezze · 460 U.S. 780 (1983)
• Police Dept. of Chicago v. Mosley · 408 U.S. 92 (1972)
• Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections · 383 U.S. 663 (1966)
• Heffron v. International Society for Krishna Consciousness, Inc. · 452 U.S. 640 (1981)
• United States v. Grace · 461 U.S. 171 (1983)
• Carey v. Brown · 447 U.S. 455 (1980)
• Meyer v. Grant · 486 U.S. 414 (1988)
• Reynolds v. Sims · 377 U.S. 533 (1964)
• In Re Murchison. · 349 U.S. 133 (1955)
• Thornhill v. Alabama · 310 U.S. 88 (1940)
• Members of the City Council of Los Angeles v. Taxpayers for Vincent · 466 U.S. 789 (1984)
• Haguer v. Committee for Industrial Organization · 307 U.S. 496 (1939)
• Cornelius v. NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc. · 473 U.S. 788 (1985)
• Garrison v. Louisiana · 379 U.S. 64 (1964)
• Williams v. Rhodes · 393 U.S. 23 (1968)
• First Nat. Bank of Boston v. Bellotti · 435 U.S. 765 (1978)
• Storer v. Brown · 415 U.S. 724 (1974)
• Wesberry v. Sanders · 376 U.S. 1 (1964)
• Hustler Magazine, Inc. v. Falwell · 485 U.S. 46 (1988)

Cited by

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

• Minnesota Voters Alliance v. Mansky · 585 U.S. 1 (2018)
• R. A. v. v. City of St. Paul · 505 U.S. 377 (1992)
• Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission · 558 U.S. 310 (2010)
• McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission · 514 U.S. 334 (1995)
• Packingham v. North Carolina · 582 U.S. 98 (2017)
• Hill v. Colorado · 530 U.S. 703 (2000)
• Iancu v. Brunetti · 588 U.S. 388 (2019)
• Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Assn. · 564 U.S. 786 (2011)
• Republican Party of Minnesota v. White · 536 U.S. 765 (2002)
• Nixon v. Shrink Missouri Government PAC · 528 U.S. 377 (2000)
• Federal Election Commission v. Colorado Republican Federal Campaign Committee · 533 U.S. 431 (2001)
• Garcetti v. Ceballos · 547 U.S. 410 (2006)
• Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. v. Federal Communications Commission · 512 U.S. 622 (1994)
• City of Ladue v. Gilleo · 512 U.S. 43 (1994)
• Buckley v. American Constitutional Law Foundation, Inc. · 525 U.S. 182 (1999)
• Florida Bar v. Went for It, Inc. · 515 U.S. 618 (1995)
• Schenck v. Pro-Choice Network of Western NY · 519 U.S. 357 (1997)
• Denver Area Educational Telecommunications Consortium, Inc. v. Federal Communications Commission · 518 U.S. 727 (1996)
• Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee · 594 U.S. 647 (2021)

Official text

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

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1992). 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).