Grayned v. City of Rockford

Decided June 26, 1972. Thurgood Marshall delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 70-5106 · 408 U.S. 104 (1972) · Cited 4,166 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.

• Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District · 393 U.S. 503 (1969)
• Cox v. Louisiana · 379 U.S. 536 (1965)
• Haguer v. Committee for Industrial Organization · 307 U.S. 496 (1939)
• Schneider v. State (Town of Irvington) · 308 U.S. 147 (1939)
• Coates v. City of Cincinnati · 402 U.S. 611 (1971)
• Gooding v. Wilson · 405 U.S. 518 (1972)
• Cox v. Louisiana · 379 U.S. 559 (1965)
• Edwards v. South Carolina · 372 U.S. 229 (1963)
• Adderley v. Florida · 385 U.S. 39 (1966)
• Cameron v. Johnson · 390 U.S. 611 (1968)
• Kunz v. New York · 340 U.S. 290 (1951)
• Saia v. New York · 334 U.S. 558 (1948)
• Gregory v. City of Chicago · 394 U.S. 111 (1969)
• Shuttlesworth v. City of Birmingham · 394 U.S. 147 (1969)
• Cox v. New Hampshire · 312 U.S. 569 (1941)
• Amalgamated Food Employees Union Local 590 v. Logan Valley Plaza, Inc. · 391 U.S. 308 (1968)
• Garner v. Louisiana · 368 U.S. 157 (1961)
• Shuttlesworth v. City of Birmingham · 382 U.S. 87 (1965)
• Cantwell v. Connecticut · 310 U.S. 296 (1940)
• Thornhill v. Alabama · 310 U.S. 88 (1940)
• Dombrowski v. Pfister · 380 U.S. 479 (1965)
• Papachristou v. City of Jacksonville · 405 U.S. 156 (1972)
• Lovell v. City of Griffin · 303 U.S. 444 (1938)
• Baggett v. Bullitt · 377 U.S. 360 (1964)
• American Communications Assn. v. Douds · 339 U.S. 382 (1950)
• Cramp v. Board of Public Instruction of Orange Cty. · 368 U.S. 278 (1961)
• Grayned v. City of Rockford · 408 U.S. 104 (1972)
• Connally v. General Construction Co. · 269 U.S. 385 (1926)
• National Ass'n for the Advancement of Colored People v. Button · 371 U.S. 415 (1963)
• Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire · 315 U.S. 568 (1942)

Cited by

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

• Sessions v. Morales-Santana · 582 U.S. 47 (2017)
• Johnson v. United States · 576 U.S. 591 (2015)
• United States v. Williams · 553 U.S. 285 (2008)
• Gonzales v. Carhart · 550 U.S. 124 (2007)
• Gundy v. United States · 588 U.S. 128 (2019)

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).