Sable Communications of California, Inc. v. Federal Communications Commission et al.

Decided June 23, 1989. Byron Raymond White delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 88-515 · 492 U.S. 115 (1989) · Cited 624 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 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.

• Federal Communications Commission v. Pacifica Foundation · 438 U.S. 726 (1978)
• Butler v. Michigan · 352 U.S. 380 (1957)
• Miller v. California · 413 U.S. 15 (1973)
• New York v. Ferber · 458 U.S. 747 (1982)
• Paris Adult Theatre I v. Slaton · 413 U.S. 49 (1973)
• Ginsberg v. New York · 390 U.S. 629 (1968)
• Bolger v. Youngs Drug Products Corp. · 463 U.S. 60 (1983)
• Elrod v. Burns · 427 U.S. 347 (1976)
• Hamling v. United States · 418 U.S. 87 (1974)
• First Nat. Bank of Boston v. Bellotti · 435 U.S. 765 (1978)
• Village of Schaumburg v. Citizens for a Better Environment · 444 U.S. 620 (1980)
• Brockett v. Spokane Arcades, Inc. · 472 U.S. 491 (1985)
• Landmark Communications, Inc. v. Virginia · 435 U.S. 829 (1978)
• Rostker v. Goldberg · 453 U.S. 57 (1981)
• Walters v. National Assn. of Radiation Survivors · 473 U.S. 305 (1985)
• United States v. 12 200-Ft. Reels of Super 8MM. Film · 413 U.S. 123 (1973)
• United States v. Reidel · 402 U.S. 351 (1971)

Cited by

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

• Denver Area Educational Telecommunications Consortium, Inc. v. Federal Communications Commission · 518 U.S. 727 (1996)
• Ashcroft v. American Civil Liberties Union · 535 U.S. 564 (2002)
• Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union · 521 U.S. 844 (1997)
• Free Speech Coalition, Inc. v. Paxton · 606 U.S. 461 (2025)
• United States v. Playboy Entertainment Group, Inc. · 529 U.S. 803 (2000)
• R. A. v. v. City of St. Paul · 505 U.S. 377 (1992)
• Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission · 558 U.S. 310 (2010)
• Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition · 535 U.S. 234 (2002)
• Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. v. Federal Communications Commission · 520 U.S. 180 (1997)
• Ashcroft v. American Civil Liberties Union · 542 U.S. 656 (2004)
• McCutcheon v. Federal Election Comm'n · 572 U.S. 185 (2014)
• Employment Div., Dept. of Human Resources of Ore. v. Smith · 494 U.S. 872 (1990)
• FW/PBS, Inc. v. City of Dallas · 493 U.S. 215 (1990)
• Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. v. Federal Communications Commission · 512 U.S. 622 (1994)
• Osborne v. Ohio · 495 U.S. 103 (1990)
• Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Assn. · 564 U.S. 786 (2011)
• Federal Election Comm'n v. Ted Cruz · 596 U.S. 289 (2022)
• Federal Communications Commission v. Fox Television Stations, Inc. · 556 U.S. 502 (2009)
• United States v. X-Citement Video, Inc. · 513 U.S. 64 (1994)
• Waters v. Churchill · 511 U.S. 661 (1994)
• Barnes v. Glen Theatre, Inc. · 501 U.S. 560 (1991)
• Lorillard Tobacco Co. v. Reilly · 533 U.S. 525 (2001)
• National Endowment for the Arts v. Finley · 524 U.S. 569 (1998)
• Austin v. Michigan State Chamber of Commerce · 494 U.S. 652 (1990)
• Christian Legal Soc. Chapter of Univ. of Cal., Hastings College of Law v. Martinez · 561 U.S. 661 (2010)
• Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College · 600 U.S. 181 (2023)
• National Pork Producers Council v. Ross · 598 U.S. 356 (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).