Konigsberg v. State Bar of California et al.

Decided April 24, 1961. John Marshall Harlan delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 28 · 366 U.S. 36 (1961) · Cited 535 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 5–4.

“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.

• Speiser v. Randall · 357 U.S. 513 (1958)
• Konigsberg v. State Bar of Cal. · 353 U.S. 252 (1957)
• American Communications Assn. v. Douds · 339 U.S. 382 (1950)
• Beauharnais v. Illinois · 343 U.S. 250 (1952)
• Shelton v. Tucker · 364 U.S. 479 (1960)
• Barenblatt v. United States · 360 U.S. 109 (1959)
• Garner v. Board of Public Works of Los Angeles · 341 U.S. 716 (1951)
• Roth v. United States · 354 U.S. 476 (1957)
• National Ass'n for the Advancement of Colored People v. Alabama Ex Rel. Patterson · 357 U.S. 449 (1958)
• Schneider v. State (Town of Irvington) · 308 U.S. 147 (1939)
• Schware v. Board of Bar Examiners of NM · 353 U.S. 232 (1957)
• Dennis v. United States · 341 U.S. 494 (1951)
• Whitney v. California · 274 U.S. 357 (1927)
• Abrams v. United States · 250 U.S. 616 (1919)
• Beilan v. Board of Public Ed., School Dist. of Philadelphia · 357 U.S. 399 (1958)
• Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire · 315 U.S. 568 (1942)
• Prince v. Massachusetts · 321 U.S. 158 (1944)
• Kovacs v. Cooper · 336 U.S. 77 (1949)
• Schenck v. United States · 249 U.S. 47 (1919)
• Gitlow v. New York · 268 U.S. 652 (1925)
• Cox v. New Hampshire · 312 U.S. 569 (1941)
• Bates v. City of Little Rock · 361 U.S. 516 (1960)
• Gerende v. Board of Supervisors of Elections of Baltimore · 341 U.S. 56 (1951)
• Boyd v. United States · 116 U.S. 616 (1886)
• West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette · 319 U.S. 624 (1943)
• Palko v. Connecticut · 302 U.S. 319 (1937)
• Near v. Minnesota Ex Rel. Olson · 283 U.S. 697 (1931)
• Yates v. United States · 354 U.S. 298 (1957)
• Murdock v. Pennsylvania · 319 U.S. 105 (1943)
• Boyd's Lessee v. Graves · 17 U.S. 513 (1819)

Cited by

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

• Scales v. United States · 367 U.S. 203 (1961)
• Baird v. State Bar of Arizona · 401 U.S. 1 (1971)
• Communist Party of United States v. Subversive Activities Control Bd. · 367 U.S. 1 (1961)
• Lathrop v. Donohue · 367 U.S. 820 (1961)
• Law Students Civil Rights Research Council, Inc. v. Wadmond · 401 U.S. 154 (1971)
• National Ass'n for the Advancement of Colored People v. Button · 371 U.S. 415 (1963)
• New York State Rifle & Pistol Assn., Inc. v. Bruen · 597 U.S. 1 (2022)
• Williams v. Rhodes · 393 U.S. 23 (1968)
• Spevack v. Klein · 385 U.S. 511 (1967)
• United Mine Workers v. Illinois State Bar Ass'n · 389 U.S. 217 (1967)
• New York Times Co. v. Sullivan · 376 U.S. 254 (1964)
• District of Columbia Court of Appeals v. Feldman · 460 U.S. 462 (1983)
• Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc. · 418 U.S. 323 (1974)
• Virginia State Board of Pharmacy v. Virginia Citizens Consumer Council, Inc. · 425 U.S. 748 (1976)
• Branzburg v. Hayes · 408 U.S. 665 (1972)
• Keyishian v. Board of Regents of Univ. of State of NY · 385 U.S. 589 (1967)
• Southeastern Promotions, Ltd. v. Conrad · 420 U.S. 546 (1975)
• DeFunis v. Odegaard · 416 U.S. 312 (1974)
• Baggett v. Bullitt · 377 U.S. 360 (1964)
• California v. LaRue · 409 U.S. 109 (1972)
• Aptheker v. Secretary of State · 378 U.S. 500 (1964)
• Time, Inc. v. Firestone · 424 U.S. 448 (1976)
• United States v. Alvarez · 567 U.S. 709 (2012)
• United States Postal Service v. Council of Greenburgh Civic Associations · 453 U.S. 114 (1981)
• In Re Griffiths · 413 U.S. 717 (1973)
• Sugarman v. Dougall · 413 U.S. 634 (1973)
• California v. Byers · 402 U.S. 424 (1971)
• Friedman v. Rogers · 440 U.S. 1 (1979)
• Sperry v. Florida Ex Rel. Florida Bar · 373 U.S. 379 (1963)
• City of El Paso v. Simmons · 379 U.S. 497 (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).