Houchins, Sheriff of the County of Alameda, California v. Kqed, Inc., et al.

Decided June 26, 1978. Warren Earl Burger delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 76-1310 · 438 U.S. 1 (1978) · Cited 511 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

“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.

• Pell v. Procunier · 417 U.S. 817 (1974)
• Branzburg v. Hayes · 408 U.S. 665 (1972)
• Grosjean v. American Press Co. · 297 U.S. 233 (1936)
• Saxbe v. Washington Post Co. · 417 U.S. 843 (1974)
• Procunier v. Martinez · 416 U.S. 396 (1974)
• Mills v. Alabama · 384 U.S. 214 (1966)
• Zemel v. Rusk · 381 U.S. 1 (1965)
• United States v. Nixon · 418 U.S. 683 (1974)
• Virginia State Board of Pharmacy v. Virginia Citizens Consumer Council, Inc. · 425 U.S. 748 (1976)
• Kleindienst v. Mandel · 408 U.S. 753 (1972)
• New York Times Co. v. Sullivan · 376 U.S. 254 (1964)
• Nixon v. Warner Communications, Inc. · 435 U.S. 589 (1978)
• Garrison v. Louisiana · 379 U.S. 64 (1964)
• Stanley v. Georgia · 394 U.S. 557 (1969)
• Near v. Minnesota Ex Rel. Olson · 283 U.S. 697 (1931)
• New York Times Co. v. United States · 403 U.S. 713 (1971)
• Milliken v. Bradley · 433 U.S. 267 (1977)
• Organization for a Better Austin v. Keefe · 402 U.S. 415 (1971)
• Miami Herald Publishing Co. v. Tornillo · 418 U.S. 241 (1974)
• Lamont v. Postmaster General · 381 U.S. 301 (1965)
• Estelle v. Gamble · 429 U.S. 97 (1976)
• Wolff v. McDonnell · 418 U.S. 539 (1974)
• Boyd v. United States · 116 U.S. 616 (1886)
• National Ass'n for the Advancement of Colored People v. Alabama Ex Rel. Patterson · 357 U.S. 449 (1958)
• United States v. W. T. Grant Co. · 345 U.S. 629 (1953)
• In Re Oliver · 333 U.S. 257 (1948)
• Red Lion Broadcasting Co. v. Federal Communications Commission · 395 U.S. 367 (1969)
• Nebraska Press Assn. v. Stuart · 427 U.S. 539 (1976)
• Estes v. Texas · 381 U.S. 532 (1965)
• United States v. Procter & Gamble Co. · 356 U.S. 677 (1958)

Cited by

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

• Richmond Newspapers, Inc. v. Virginia · 448 U.S. 555 (1980)
• Gannett Co. v. DePasquale · 443 U.S. 368 (1979)
• Press-Enterprise Co. v. Superior Court of Cal., County of Riverside · 478 U.S. 1 (1986)
• McBurney v. Young · 569 U.S. 221 (2013)
• Bell v. Wolfish · 441 U.S. 520 (1979)
• Hudson v. Palmer · 468 U.S. 517 (1984)
• Thornburgh v. Abbott · 490 U.S. 401 (1989)
• Press-Enterprise Co. v. Superior Court of Cal., Riverside Cty. · 464 U.S. 501 (1984)
• United States v. Bailey · 444 U.S. 394 (1980)
• Board of Ed., Island Trees Union Free School Dist. No. 26 v. Pico · 457 U.S. 853 (1982)
• Minneapolis Star & Tribune Co. v. Minnesota Commissioner of Revenue · 460 U.S. 575 (1983)
• Smith v. Daily Mail Publishing Co. · 443 U.S. 97 (1979)
• City of Rome v. United States · 446 U.S. 156 (1980)
• Los Angeles Police Department v. United Reporting Publishing Corp. · 528 U.S. 32 (1999)

Official text

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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).