Ginsberg v. New York

Decided April 22, 1968. William Joseph Brennan Jr. delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 47 · 390 U.S. 629 (1968) · Cited 1,224 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 6–3.

“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.

• Roth v. United States · 354 U.S. 476 (1957)
• Jacobellis v. Ohio · 378 U.S. 184 (1964)
• A Book Named \John Cleland's Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure\" v. Attorney General of Massachusetts" · 383 U.S. 413 (1966)
• Redrup v. New York · 386 U.S. 767 (1967)
• Smith v. California · 361 U.S. 147 (1959)
• St. Pierre v. United States · 319 U.S. 41 (1943)
• In Re GAULT · 387 U.S. 1 (1967)
• Meyer v. Nebraska · 262 U.S. 390 (1923)
• Prince v. Massachusetts · 321 U.S. 158 (1944)
• Stromberg v. California · 283 U.S. 359 (1931)
• Winters v. New York · 333 U.S. 507 (1948)
• Cole v. Arkansas · 333 U.S. 196 (1948)
• Ginzburg v. United States · 383 U.S. 463 (1966)
• Public Utilities Commission v. Pollak · 343 U.S. 451 (1952)
• Mishkin v. New York · 383 U.S. 502 (1966)
• Williamson v. Lee Optical of Oklahoma, Inc. · 348 U.S. 483 (1955)
• Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire · 315 U.S. 568 (1942)
• West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette · 319 U.S. 624 (1943)
• Loving v. Virginia · 388 U.S. 1 (1967)
• Speiser v. Randall · 357 U.S. 513 (1958)
• Cox v. Louisiana · 379 U.S. 536 (1965)
• Kovacs v. Cooper · 336 U.S. 77 (1949)
• Gitlow v. New York · 268 U.S. 652 (1925)
• Whitney v. California · 274 U.S. 357 (1927)
• Ferguson v. Skrupa · 372 U.S. 726 (1963)
• Carrington v. Rash · 380 U.S. 89 (1965)
• Abrams v. United States · 250 U.S. 616 (1919)
• Fiswick v. United States · 329 U.S. 211 (1946)
• Noble State Bank v. Haskell · 219 U.S. 104 (1911)
• Beauharnais v. Illinois · 343 U.S. 250 (1952)

Cited by

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

• Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union · 521 U.S. 844 (1997)
• Free Speech Coalition, Inc. v. Paxton · 606 U.S. 461 (2025)
• Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Assn. · 564 U.S. 786 (2011)
• Carey v. Population Services International · 431 U.S. 678 (1977)
• Bellotti v. Baird · 443 U.S. 622 (1979)
• Federal Communications Commission v. Pacifica Foundation · 438 U.S. 726 (1978)
• Paris Adult Theatre I v. Slaton · 413 U.S. 49 (1973)
• Denver Area Educational Telecommunications Consortium, Inc. v. Federal Communications Commission · 518 U.S. 727 (1996)
• Miller v. California · 413 U.S. 15 (1973)
• United States v. Playboy Entertainment Group, Inc. · 529 U.S. 803 (2000)
• Erznoznik v. City of Jacksonville · 422 U.S. 205 (1975)
• New York v. Ferber · 458 U.S. 747 (1982)
• Moore v. City of East Cleveland · 431 U.S. 494 (1977)
• Stanley v. Georgia · 394 U.S. 557 (1969)
• Bethel School District No. 403 v. Fraser · 478 U.S. 675 (1986)
• Elonis v. United States · 575 U.S. 723 (2015)
• Ashcroft v. American Civil Liberties Union · 535 U.S. 564 (2002)
• H. L. v. Matheson · 450 U.S. 398 (1981)
• Iancu v. Brunetti · 588 U.S. 388 (2019)
• Sibron v. New York · 392 U.S. 40 (1968)
• Benton v. Maryland · 395 U.S. 784 (1969)
• Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District · 393 U.S. 503 (1969)
• Maryland v. Craig · 497 U.S. 836 (1990)
• Young v. American Mini Theatres, Inc. · 427 U.S. 50 (1976)
• Virginia v. American Booksellers Assn., Inc. · 484 U.S. 383 (1988)
• Street v. New York · 394 U.S. 576 (1969)
• Sable Communications of California, Inc. v. Federal Communications Commission · 492 U.S. 115 (1989)
• Thompson v. Oklahoma · 487 U.S. 815 (1988)
• Ashcroft v. American Civil Liberties Union · 542 U.S. 656 (2004)
• Hodgson v. Minnesota · 497 U.S. 417 (1990)

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).