Packingham v. North Carolina
Decided June 19, 2017. Anthony McLeod Kennedy delivered the opinion of the Court.
Docket 15-1194 · 582 U.S. 98 (2017) · Cited 460 times
Holding
The North Carolina statute impermissibly restricts lawful speech in violation of the First Amendment.
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 8–0.
Majority · 5
- Anthony McLeod Kennedy · delivered the opinion of the Court
- Elena Kagan
- Ruth Bader Ginsburg
- Sonia Sotomayor
- Stephen Gerald Breyer
Concurring · 3
- Clarence Thomas
- John Glover Roberts Jr.
- Samuel A. Alito Jr. · filed a concurring opinion
“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.
- Ward v. Rock Against Racism · 491 U.S. 781 (1989)
- New York v. Ferber · 458 U.S. 747 (1982)
- Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union · 521 U.S. 844 (1997)
- Burson v. Freeman · 504 U.S. 191 (1992)
- Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition · 535 U.S. 234 (2002)
- Board of Airport Comm'rs of Los Angeles v. Jews for Jesus, Inc. · 482 U.S. 569 (1987)
- McKune v. Lile · 536 U.S. 24 (2002)
- Stanley v. Georgia · 394 U.S. 557 (1969)
- Globe Newspaper Co. v. Superior Court, County of Norfolk · 457 U.S. 596 (1982)
- Brandenburg v. Ohio · 395 U.S. 444 (1969)
- Connecticut Department of Public Safety v. Doe · 538 U.S. 1 (2003)
- United States v. Kebodeaux · 570 U.S. 387 (2013)
Cited by
Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.
- Timbs v. Indiana · 586 U.S. 146 (2019)
- Moody v. NetChoice, LLC · 603 U.S. 707 (2024)
Explore from here
Anthony McLeod Kennedy’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court
Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (2017). 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).