New York Times Co. v. Sullivan

Decided March 9, 1964. William Joseph Brennan Jr. delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 39 · 376 U.S. 254 (1964) · Cited 8,531 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.

• Barr v. Matteo · 360 U.S. 564 (1959)
• National Ass'n for the Advancement of Colored People v. Button · 371 U.S. 415 (1963)
• Roth v. United States · 354 U.S. 476 (1957)
• Speiser v. Randall · 357 U.S. 513 (1958)
• Bridges v. California · 314 U.S. 252 (1941)
• Pennekamp v. Florida · 328 U.S. 331 (1946)
• Smith v. California · 361 U.S. 147 (1959)
• Whitney v. California · 274 U.S. 357 (1927)
• Beauharnais v. Illinois · 343 U.S. 250 (1952)
• Stromberg v. California · 283 U.S. 359 (1931)
• Bantam Books, Inc. v. Sullivan · 372 U.S. 58 (1963)
• Gitlow v. New York · 268 U.S. 652 (1925)
• Edwards v. South Carolina · 372 U.S. 229 (1963)
• De Jonge v. Oregon · 299 U.S. 353 (1937)
• Craig v. Harney · 331 U.S. 367 (1947)
• Valentine v. Chrestensen · 316 U.S. 52 (1942)
• Cantwell v. Connecticut · 310 U.S. 296 (1940)
• Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire · 315 U.S. 568 (1942)
• Schneider v. State (Town of Irvington) · 308 U.S. 147 (1939)
• Wood v. Georgia · 370 U.S. 375 (1962)
• Fiske v. Kansas · 274 U.S. 380 (1927)
• Farmers Educational & Cooperative Union v. WDAY, Inc. · 360 U.S. 525 (1959)
• National Ass'n for the Advancement of Colored People v. Alabama Ex Rel. Patterson · 357 U.S. 449 (1958)
• Near v. Minnesota Ex Rel. Olson · 283 U.S. 697 (1931)
• Haynes v. Washington · 373 U.S. 503 (1963)
• Lovell v. City of Griffin · 303 U.S. 444 (1938)
• Yates v. United States · 354 U.S. 298 (1957)
• Terminiello v. Chicago · 337 U.S. 1 (1949)
• Dennis v. United States · 341 U.S. 494 (1951)
• Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad v. Chicago · 166 U.S. 226 (1897)

Cited by

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

• Dun & Bradstreet, Inc. v. Greenmoss Builders, Inc. · 472 U.S. 749 (1985)
• Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc. · 418 U.S. 323 (1974)
• Philadelphia Newspapers, Inc. v. Hepps · 475 U.S. 767 (1986)
• Herbert v. Lando · 441 U.S. 153 (1979)
• Rosenbloom v. Metromedia, Inc. · 403 U.S. 29 (1971)
• Bose Corp. v. Consumers Union of United States, Inc. · 466 U.S. 485 (1984)
• Rosenblatt v. Baer · 383 U.S. 75 (1966)
• Curtis Publishing Co. v. Butts · 388 U.S. 130 (1967)
• Garrison v. Louisiana · 379 U.S. 64 (1964)
• Time, Inc. v. Hill · 385 U.S. 374 (1967)
• Time, Inc. v. Firestone · 424 U.S. 448 (1976)
• Time, Inc. v. Pape · 401 U.S. 279 (1971)
• Milkovich v. Lorain Journal Co. · 497 U.S. 1 (1990)
• Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission · 558 U.S. 310 (2010)
• Counterman v. Colorado · 600 U.S. 66 (2023)
• McDonald v. Smith · 472 U.S. 479 (1985)
• Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc. · 477 U.S. 242 (1986)
• Virginia State Board of Pharmacy v. Virginia Citizens Consumer Council, Inc. · 425 U.S. 748 (1976)
• Branzburg v. Hayes · 408 U.S. 665 (1972)
• St. Amant v. Thompson · 390 U.S. 727 (1968)
• Old Dominion Branch No. 496 v. Austin · 418 U.S. 264 (1974)
• Harte-Hanks Communications, Inc. v. Connaughton · 491 U.S. 657 (1989)
• Greenbelt Cooperative Publishing Assn., Inc. v. Bresler · 398 U.S. 6 (1970)
• Pittsburgh Press Co. v. Pittsburgh Commission on Human Relations · 413 U.S. 376 (1973)
• United States v. Alvarez · 567 U.S. 709 (2012)
• Cohen v. Cowles Media Co. · 501 U.S. 663 (1991)
• Connick Ex Rel. Parish of Orleans v. Myers · 461 U.S. 138 (1983)
• First Nat. Bank of Boston v. Bellotti · 435 U.S. 765 (1978)
• Hustler Magazine, Inc. v. Falwell · 485 U.S. 46 (1988)
• Beckley Newspapers Corp. v. Hanks · 389 U.S. 81 (1967)

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).