Garrison v. Louisiana

Decided November 23, 1964. William Joseph Brennan Jr. delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 4 · 379 U.S. 64 (1964) · Cited 1,859 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.

• New York Times Co. v. Sullivan · 376 U.S. 254 (1964)
• Beauharnais v. Illinois · 343 U.S. 250 (1952)
• Roth v. United States · 354 U.S. 476 (1957)
• Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire · 315 U.S. 568 (1942)
• Gideon v. Wainwright · 372 U.S. 335 (1963)
• Barr v. Matteo · 360 U.S. 564 (1959)
• Betts v. Brady · 316 U.S. 455 (1942)
• Giboney v. Empire Storage & Ice Co. · 336 U.S. 490 (1949)
• Abrams v. United States · 250 U.S. 616 (1919)
• Howard v. Lyons · 360 U.S. 593 (1959)

Cited by

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

• Pickering v. Board of Ed. of Township High School Dist. 205, Will Cty. · 391 U.S. 563 (1968)
• Rosenblatt v. Baer · 383 U.S. 75 (1966)
• Curtis Publishing Co. v. Butts · 388 U.S. 130 (1967)
• Philadelphia Newspapers, Inc. v. Hepps · 475 U.S. 767 (1986)
• Monitor Patriot Co. v. Roy · 401 U.S. 265 (1971)
• Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc. · 418 U.S. 323 (1974)
• Harte-Hanks Communications, Inc. v. Connaughton · 491 U.S. 657 (1989)
• Elonis v. United States · 575 U.S. 723 (2015)
• Cox Broadcasting Corp. v. Cohn · 420 U.S. 469 (1975)
• Florida Star v. B. J. F. · 491 U.S. 524 (1989)
• McDonald v. Smith · 472 U.S. 479 (1985)
• Counterman v. Colorado · 600 U.S. 66 (2023)
• Connick Ex Rel. Parish of Orleans v. Myers · 461 U.S. 138 (1983)
• St. Amant v. Thompson · 390 U.S. 727 (1968)
• Time, Inc. v. Hill · 385 U.S. 374 (1967)
• Linn v. United Plant Guard Workers of America, Local 114 · 383 U.S. 53 (1966)
• Rosenbloom v. Metromedia, Inc. · 403 U.S. 29 (1971)
• Dun & Bradstreet, Inc. v. Greenmoss Builders, Inc. · 472 U.S. 749 (1985)
• United States v. Alvarez · 567 U.S. 709 (2012)
• Beckley Newspapers Corp. v. Hanks · 389 U.S. 81 (1967)
• CBS, Inc. v. Federal Communications Commission · 453 U.S. 367 (1981)
• Branzburg v. Hayes · 408 U.S. 665 (1972)
• Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc. v. Nation Enterprises · 471 U.S. 539 (1985)
• Hustler Magazine, Inc. v. Falwell · 485 U.S. 46 (1988)
• Snyder v. Phelps · 562 U.S. 443 (2011)
• Greenbelt Cooperative Publishing Assn., Inc. v. Bresler · 398 U.S. 6 (1970)
• Time, Inc. v. Firestone · 424 U.S. 448 (1976)
• Houchins v. KQED, Inc. · 438 U.S. 1 (1978)
• Time, Inc. v. Pape · 401 U.S. 279 (1971)
• Henry v. Collins · 380 U.S. 356 (1965)

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).