Rowan, Dba American Book Service, et al. v. United States Post Office Department et al.

Decided May 4, 1970. Warren Earl Burger delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 399 · 397 U.S. 728 (1970) · Cited 519 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.

• Martin v. City of Struthers · 319 U.S. 141 (1943)
• Camara v. Municipal Court of City and County of San Francisco · 387 U.S. 523 (1967)
• Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District · 393 U.S. 503 (1969)
• Ginsberg v. New York · 390 U.S. 629 (1968)
• Public Utilities Commission v. Pollak · 343 U.S. 451 (1952)
• Lamont v. Postmaster General · 381 U.S. 301 (1965)
• Anderson National Bank v. Luckett · 321 U.S. 233 (1944)
• United States v. Cardiff · 344 U.S. 174 (1952)
• California State Automobile Ass'n Inter-Insurance Bureau v. Maloney · 341 U.S. 105 (1951)

Cited by

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

• Hill v. Colorado · 530 U.S. 703 (2000)
• Federal Communications Commission v. Pacifica Foundation · 438 U.S. 726 (1978)
• Erznoznik v. City of Jacksonville · 422 U.S. 205 (1975)
• Carey v. Brown · 447 U.S. 455 (1980)
• Frisby v. Schultz · 487 U.S. 474 (1988)
• Bolger v. Youngs Drug Products Corp. · 463 U.S. 60 (1983)
• Cohen v. California · 403 U.S. 15 (1971)
• Snyder v. Phelps · 562 U.S. 443 (2011)
• Board of Ed., Island Trees Union Free School Dist. No. 26 v. Pico · 457 U.S. 853 (1982)
• Denver Area Educational Telecommunications Consortium, Inc. v. Federal Communications Commission · 518 U.S. 727 (1996)
• Wisconsin v. Yoder · 406 U.S. 205 (1972)
• Hamling v. United States · 418 U.S. 87 (1974)
• Young v. American Mini Theatres, Inc. · 427 U.S. 50 (1976)
• Paris Adult Theatre I v. Slaton · 413 U.S. 49 (1973)
• Lingle v. Chevron U. S. A. Inc. · 544 U.S. 528 (2005)
• United States v. Playboy Entertainment Group, Inc. · 529 U.S. 803 (2000)
• Village of Schaumburg v. Citizens for a Better Environment · 444 U.S. 620 (1980)
• Consolidated Edison Co. of New York v. Public Service Commission · 447 U.S. 530 (1980)
• United States Department of Defense v. Federal Labor Relations Authority · 510 U.S. 487 (1994)
• Organization for a Better Austin v. Keefe · 402 U.S. 415 (1971)
• Nixon v. Shrink Missouri Government PAC · 528 U.S. 377 (2000)
• Hynes v. Mayor and Council of Oradell · 425 U.S. 610 (1976)
• Wyman v. James · 400 U.S. 309 (1971)
• In Re Primus · 436 U.S. 412 (1978)
• Counterman v. Colorado · 600 U.S. 66 (2023)

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).