Coates et al. v. City of Cincinnati

Decided June 1, 1971. Potter Stewart delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 117 · 402 U.S. 611 (1971) · Cited 1,269 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.

• Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire · 315 U.S. 568 (1942)
• Cox v. Louisiana · 379 U.S. 559 (1965)
• United States v. National Dairy Products Corp. · 372 U.S. 29 (1963)
• Cantwell v. Connecticut · 310 U.S. 296 (1940)
• Connally v. General Construction Co. · 269 U.S. 385 (1926)
• Thornhill v. Alabama · 310 U.S. 88 (1940)
• Dombrowski v. Pfister · 380 U.S. 479 (1965)
• United States v. Harriss · 347 U.S. 612 (1954)
• Schneider v. State (Town of Irvington) · 308 U.S. 147 (1939)
• Keyishian v. Board of Regents of Univ. of State of NY · 385 U.S. 589 (1967)
• Cox v. Louisiana · 379 U.S. 536 (1965)
• Lanzetta v. New Jersey · 306 U.S. 451 (1939)
• Terminiello v. Chicago · 337 U.S. 1 (1949)
• United States v. Raines · 362 U.S. 17 (1960)
• Edwards v. South Carolina · 372 U.S. 229 (1963)
• Street v. New York · 394 U.S. 576 (1969)
• United States v. Robel · 389 U.S. 258 (1967)
• Cameron v. Johnson · 390 U.S. 611 (1968)
• Kunz v. New York · 340 U.S. 290 (1951)
• Gregory v. City of Chicago · 394 U.S. 111 (1969)
• Williams v. United States · 341 U.S. 97 (1951)
• Times Film Corp. v. City of Chicago · 365 U.S. 43 (1961)

Cited by

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

• Broadrick v. Oklahoma · 413 U.S. 601 (1973)
• Johnson v. United States · 576 U.S. 591 (2015)
• Hill v. Colorado · 530 U.S. 703 (2000)
• City of Chicago v. Morales · 527 U.S. 41 (1999)
• Grayned v. City of Rockford · 408 U.S. 104 (1972)
• Miller v. California · 413 U.S. 15 (1973)
• Parker v. Levy · 417 U.S. 733 (1974)
• United States v. Williams · 553 U.S. 285 (2008)
• Welch v. United States · 578 U.S. 120 (2016)
• Gooding v. Wilson · 405 U.S. 518 (1972)
• Bond v. United States · 572 U.S. 844 (2014)
• Matal v. Tam · 582 U.S. 218 (2017)
• Hoffman Estates v. Flipside, Hoffman Estates, Inc. · 455 U.S. 489 (1982)
• Bigelow v. Virginia · 421 U.S. 809 (1975)
• Branzburg v. Hayes · 408 U.S. 665 (1972)
• Michigan v. DeFillippo · 443 U.S. 31 (1979)
• Texas v. Johnson · 491 U.S. 397 (1989)
• Smith v. Goguen · 415 U.S. 566 (1974)
• City of Houston v. Hill · 482 U.S. 451 (1987)
• O'Connor v. Donaldson · 422 U.S. 563 (1975)
• Zablocki v. Redhail · 434 U.S. 374 (1978)
• Erznoznik v. City of Jacksonville · 422 U.S. 205 (1975)
• California v. LaRue · 409 U.S. 109 (1972)
• Hynes v. Mayor and Council of Oradell · 425 U.S. 610 (1976)
• H. L. v. Matheson · 450 U.S. 398 (1981)
• Fulton v. Philadelphia · 593 U.S. 522 (2021)
• Beckles v. United States · 580 U.S. 256 (2017)

Official text

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

Explore from here

Potter Stewart’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

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).