Lewis v. City of New Orleans

Decided February 20, 1974. William Joseph Brennan Jr. delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 72-6156 · 415 U.S. 130 (1974) · Cited 533 times

Holding

The ordinance, as thus construed, is susceptible of application to protected speech, and therefore is overbroad in violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments and facially invalid.

The Court’s statement of the holding, from the opinion’s syllabus. The syllabus is prepared by the Reporter of Decisions and is not part of the opinion of the Court — read the official opinion for authority.

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.

• Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire · 315 U.S. 568 (1942)
• Gooding v. Wilson · 405 U.S. 518 (1972)
• Lewis v. City of New Orleans · 408 U.S. 913 (1972)
• Cohen v. California · 403 U.S. 15 (1971)
• Cantwell v. Connecticut · 310 U.S. 296 (1940)
• Terminiello v. Chicago · 337 U.S. 1 (1949)
• Saia v. New York · 334 U.S. 558 (1948)

Cited by

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

• City of Houston v. Hill · 482 U.S. 451 (1987)
• Kolender v. Lawson · 461 U.S. 352 (1983)
• R. A. v. v. City of St. Paul · 505 U.S. 377 (1992)
• Federal Communications Commission v. Pacifica Foundation · 438 U.S. 726 (1978)
• Craig v. Boren · 429 U.S. 190 (1976)
• Young v. American Mini Theatres, Inc. · 427 U.S. 50 (1976)
• Southeastern Promotions, Ltd. v. Conrad · 420 U.S. 546 (1975)
• United States v. Grace · 461 U.S. 171 (1983)
• Hiibel v. Sixth Judicial Dist. Court of Nev., Humboldt Cty. · 542 U.S. 177 (2004)
• Board of Airport Comm'rs of Los Angeles v. Jews for Jesus, Inc. · 482 U.S. 569 (1987)
• United States v. Hansen · 599 U.S. 762 (2023)

Official text

Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1974). 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).