Riley, District Attorney of the Tenth Prosecutorial District of North Carolina, et al. v. National Federation of the Blind of North Carolina, Inc., et al.

Decided June 29, 1988. William Joseph Brennan Jr. delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 87-328 · 487 U.S. 781 (1988) · Cited 913 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 7–2.

“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.

• Village of Schaumburg v. Citizens for a Better Environment · 444 U.S. 620 (1980)
• Secretary of State of Md. v. Joseph H. Munson Co. · 467 U.S. 947 (1984)
• Miami Herald Publishing Co. v. Tornillo · 418 U.S. 241 (1974)
• New York Times Co. v. Sullivan · 376 U.S. 254 (1964)
• Schneider v. State (Town of Irvington) · 308 U.S. 147 (1939)
• Thomas v. Collins · 323 U.S. 516 (1945)
• Lovell v. City of Griffin · 303 U.S. 444 (1938)
• Martin v. City of Struthers · 319 U.S. 141 (1943)
• West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette · 319 U.S. 624 (1943)
• Wooley v. Maynard · 430 U.S. 705 (1977)
• Meyer v. Grant · 486 U.S. 414 (1988)
• Buckley v. Valeo · 424 U.S. 1 (1976)
• National Ass'n for the Advancement of Colored People v. Button · 371 U.S. 415 (1963)
• Virginia State Board of Pharmacy v. Virginia Citizens Consumer Council, Inc. · 425 U.S. 748 (1976)
• City of New Orleans v. Dukes · 427 U.S. 297 (1976)
• First Nat. Bank of Boston v. Bellotti · 435 U.S. 765 (1978)
• Freedman v. Maryland · 380 U.S. 51 (1965)
• City of Lakewood v. Plain Dealer Publishing Co. · 486 U.S. 750 (1988)
• Lochner v. New York · 198 U.S. 45 (1905)
• Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc. v. Nation Enterprises · 471 U.S. 539 (1985)
• Abood v. Detroit Board of Education · 431 U.S. 209 (1977)
• Cox v. New Hampshire · 312 U.S. 569 (1941)
• Smith v. Evening News Assn. · 371 U.S. 195 (1962)
• Hustler Magazine, Inc. v. Falwell · 485 U.S. 46 (1988)
• West Coast Hotel Co. v. Parrish · 300 U.S. 379 (1937)
• Consolidated Edison Co. of New York v. Public Service Commission · 447 U.S. 530 (1980)
• Zauderer v. Office of Disciplinary Counsel of the Supreme Court of Ohio · 471 U.S. 626 (1985)
• Bigelow v. Virginia · 421 U.S. 809 (1975)
• Organization for a Better Austin v. Keefe · 402 U.S. 415 (1971)
• Tashjian v. Republican Party of Connecticut · 479 U.S. 208 (1986)

Cited by

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

• Illinois Ex Rel. Madigan, Attorney General of Illinois v. Telemarketing Associates, Inc. · 538 U.S. 600 (2003)
• FW/PBS, Inc. v. City of Dallas · 493 U.S. 215 (1990)
• National Institute of Family and Life Advocates v. Becerra · 585 U.S. 755 (2018)
• International Society for Krishna Consciousness, Inc. v. Lee · 505 U.S. 672 (1992)
• Nixon v. Shrink Missouri Government PAC · 528 U.S. 377 (2000)
• Glickman v. Wileman Brothers & Elliott, Inc. · 521 U.S. 457 (1997)
• Buckley v. American Constitutional Law Foundation, Inc. · 525 U.S. 182 (1999)
• United States v. Williams · 553 U.S. 285 (2008)
• Board of Trustees of State Univ. of NY v. Fox · 492 U.S. 469 (1989)
• Janus v. State, County, and Municipal Employees · 585 U.S. 878 (2018)
• Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. v. Federal Communications Commission · 512 U.S. 622 (1994)
• Gonzales v. Raich · 545 U.S. 1 (2005)
• United States v. Kokinda · 497 U.S. 720 (1990)
• Milavetz, Gallop & Milavetz, P. A. v. United States · 559 U.S. 229 (2010)
• Hill v. Colorado · 530 U.S. 703 (2000)
• Rumsfeld v. Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights, Inc. · 547 U.S. 47 (2006)
• Knox v. Service Employees International Union, Local 1000 · 567 U.S. 298 (2012)
• Hurley v. Irish-American Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Group of Boston, Inc. · 515 U.S. 557 (1995)
• McConnell v. Federal Election Commission · 540 U.S. 93 (2003)
• Randall v. Sorrell · 548 U.S. 230 (2006)
• Federal Trade Commission v. Superior Court Trial Lawyers Ass'n · 493 U.S. 411 (1990)
• 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis · 600 U.S. 570 (2023)
• SEC v. Jarkesy · 603 U.S. 109 (2024)

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).