Cox v. Louisiana

Decided January 18, 1965. Arthur Joseph Goldberg delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 24 · 379 U.S. 536 (1965) · Cited 1,449 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 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.

• Edwards v. South Carolina · 372 U.S. 229 (1963)
• Terminiello v. Chicago · 337 U.S. 1 (1949)
• Niemotko v. Maryland · 340 U.S. 268 (1951)
• Lovell v. City of Griffin · 303 U.S. 444 (1938)
• Cantwell v. Connecticut · 310 U.S. 296 (1940)
• Thornhill v. Alabama · 310 U.S. 88 (1940)
• Kovacs v. Cooper · 336 U.S. 77 (1949)
• Largent v. Texas · 318 U.S. 418 (1943)
• Yick Wo v. Hopkins · 118 U.S. 356 (1886)
• Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire · 315 U.S. 568 (1942)
• Haguer v. Committee for Industrial Organization · 307 U.S. 496 (1939)
• Schneider v. State (Town of Irvington) · 308 U.S. 147 (1939)
• Stromberg v. California · 283 U.S. 359 (1931)
• Haynes v. Washington · 373 U.S. 503 (1963)
• Blackburn v. Alabama · 361 U.S. 199 (1960)
• Cox v. New Hampshire · 312 U.S. 569 (1941)
• Giboney v. Empire Storage & Ice Co. · 336 U.S. 490 (1949)
• Thompson v. City of Louisville · 362 U.S. 199 (1960)
• Stein v. New York · 346 U.S. 156 (1953)
• Pennekamp v. Florida · 328 U.S. 331 (1946)
• Kunz v. New York · 340 U.S. 290 (1951)
• Garner v. Louisiana · 368 U.S. 157 (1961)
• Saia v. New York · 334 U.S. 558 (1948)
• Poulos v. New Hampshire · 345 U.S. 395 (1953)
• Feiner v. New York · 340 U.S. 315 (1951)
• Watson v. City of Memphis · 373 U.S. 526 (1963)
• Fiske v. Kansas · 274 U.S. 380 (1927)

Cited by

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

• Brown v. Louisiana · 383 U.S. 131 (1966)
• Gooding v. Wilson · 405 U.S. 518 (1972)
• Grayned v. City of Rockford · 408 U.S. 104 (1972)
• Walker v. City of Birmingham · 388 U.S. 307 (1967)
• Morse v. Frederick · 551 U.S. 393 (2007)
• Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District · 393 U.S. 503 (1969)
• Police Dept. of Chicago v. Mosley · 408 U.S. 92 (1972)
• Shuttlesworth v. City of Birmingham · 394 U.S. 147 (1969)
• City of Lakewood v. Plain Dealer Publishing Co. · 486 U.S. 750 (1988)
• Young v. American Mini Theatres, Inc. · 427 U.S. 50 (1976)
• Colten v. Kentucky · 407 U.S. 104 (1972)
• Adderley v. Florida · 385 U.S. 39 (1966)
• Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc. v. Democratic National Committee · 412 U.S. 94 (1973)
• Gregory v. City of Chicago · 394 U.S. 111 (1969)
• Broadrick v. Oklahoma · 413 U.S. 601 (1973)
• Erznoznik v. City of Jacksonville · 422 U.S. 205 (1975)
• Elonis v. United States · 575 U.S. 723 (2015)
• Matal v. Tam · 582 U.S. 218 (2017)
• Bell v. Wolfish · 441 U.S. 520 (1979)
• Cohen v. California · 403 U.S. 15 (1971)
• Widmar v. Vincent · 454 U.S. 263 (1981)
• Heffron v. International Society for Krishna Consciousness, Inc. · 452 U.S. 640 (1981)
• Carey v. Brown · 447 U.S. 455 (1980)
• Consolidated Edison Co. of New York v. Public Service Commission · 447 U.S. 530 (1980)
• California v. LaRue · 409 U.S. 109 (1972)
• Street v. New York · 394 U.S. 576 (1969)
• United States Postal Service v. Council of Greenburgh Civic Associations · 453 U.S. 114 (1981)
• Bachellar v. Maryland · 397 U.S. 564 (1970)
• Griswold v. Connecticut · 381 U.S. 479 (1965)
• San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez · 411 U.S. 1 (1973)

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).