Lamont, Dba Basic Pamphlets v. Postmaster General

Decided May 24, 1965. William Orville Douglas delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 491 · 381 U.S. 301 (1965) · Cited 436 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 8–0.

“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.

• Speiser v. Randall · 357 U.S. 513 (1958)
• Thomas v. Collins · 323 U.S. 516 (1945)
• Murdock v. Pennsylvania · 319 U.S. 105 (1943)
• New York Times Co. v. Sullivan · 376 U.S. 254 (1964)
• Boyd v. United States · 116 U.S. 616 (1886)
• National Ass'n for the Advancement of Colored People v. Button · 371 U.S. 415 (1963)
• National Ass'n for the Advancement of Colored People v. Alabama Ex Rel. Patterson · 357 U.S. 449 (1958)
• Bolling v. Sharpe · 347 U.S. 497 (1954)
• Dombrowski v. Pfister · 380 U.S. 479 (1965)
• Garrison v. Louisiana · 379 U.S. 64 (1964)
• Freedman v. Maryland · 380 U.S. 51 (1965)
• Lovell v. City of Griffin · 303 U.S. 444 (1938)
• Martin v. City of Struthers · 319 U.S. 141 (1943)
• Zemel v. Rusk · 381 U.S. 1 (1965)
• Aptheker v. Secretary of State · 378 U.S. 500 (1964)
• Harman v. Forssenius · 380 U.S. 528 (1965)
• Kent v. Dulles · 357 U.S. 116 (1958)
• Johnson v. Eisentrager · 339 U.S. 763 (1950)
• Butler v. Michigan · 352 U.S. 380 (1957)
• Hannegan v. Esquire, Inc. · 327 U.S. 146 (1946)
• United States Ex Rel. Milwaukee Social Democratic Publishing Co. v. Burleson · 255 U.S. 407 (1921)

Cited by

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

• Kleindienst v. Mandel · 408 U.S. 753 (1972)
• Meese v. Keene · 481 U.S. 465 (1987)
• United States Postal Service v. Council of Greenburgh Civic Associations · 453 U.S. 114 (1981)
• Denver Area Educational Telecommunications Consortium, Inc. v. Federal Communications Commission · 518 U.S. 727 (1996)
• Laird v. Tatum · 408 U.S. 1 (1972)
• Virginia State Board of Pharmacy v. Virginia Citizens Consumer Council, Inc. · 425 U.S. 748 (1976)
• Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission · 558 U.S. 310 (2010)
• Board of Ed., Island Trees Union Free School Dist. No. 26 v. Pico · 457 U.S. 853 (1982)
• Buckley v. Valeo · 424 U.S. 1 (1976)
• Procunier v. Martinez · 416 U.S. 396 (1974)
• Branzburg v. Hayes · 408 U.S. 665 (1972)
• Bolger v. Youngs Drug Products Corp. · 463 U.S. 60 (1983)
• California Bankers Assn. v. Shultz · 416 U.S. 21 (1974)
• Houchins v. KQED, Inc. · 438 U.S. 1 (1978)
• Brown v. Glines · 444 U.S. 348 (1980)
• San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez · 411 U.S. 1 (1973)
• Richmond Newspapers, Inc. v. Virginia · 448 U.S. 555 (1980)
• Stanley v. Georgia · 394 U.S. 557 (1969)
• Garrity v. New Jersey · 385 U.S. 493 (1967)
• Nixon v. Administrator of General Services · 433 U.S. 425 (1977)
• Paris Adult Theatre I v. Slaton · 413 U.S. 49 (1973)
• Osborne v. Ohio · 495 U.S. 103 (1990)
• Consolidated Edison Co. of New York v. Public Service Commission · 447 U.S. 530 (1980)
• Gravel v. United States · 408 U.S. 606 (1972)
• Greer v. Spock · 424 U.S. 828 (1976)
• Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc. v. Democratic National Committee · 412 U.S. 94 (1973)
• Thornburgh v. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists · 476 U.S. 747 (1986)
• Rowan v. United States Post Office Department · 397 U.S. 728 (1970)
• United States v. Van Leeuwen · 397 U.S. 249 (1970)
• Blount v. Rizzi · 400 U.S. 410 (1971)

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).