Saia v. New York

Decided June 7, 1948. William Orville Douglas delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 504 · 334 U.S. 558 (1948) · Cited 481 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 5–4.

“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.

• Davis v. Massachusetts · 167 U.S. 43 (1897)
• Cantwell v. Connecticut · 310 U.S. 296 (1940)
• Haguer v. Committee for Industrial Organization · 307 U.S. 496 (1939)
• Cox v. New Hampshire · 312 U.S. 569 (1941)
• Lovell v. City of Griffin · 303 U.S. 444 (1938)
• Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire · 315 U.S. 568 (1942)
• Schneider v. State (Town of Irvington) · 308 U.S. 147 (1939)
• Marsh v. Alabama · 326 U.S. 501 (1946)
• Illinois Ex Rel. McCollum v. Board of Ed. of School Dist. No. 71, Champaign Cty. · 333 U.S. 203 (1948)
• New York Ex Rel. Hatch v. Reardon · 204 U.S. 152 (1907)
• Baldwin v. Missouri · 281 U.S. 586 (1930)

Cited by

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

• City of Lakewood v. Plain Dealer Publishing Co. · 486 U.S. 750 (1988)
• Kovacs v. Cooper · 336 U.S. 77 (1949)
• Metromedia, Inc. v. City of San Diego · 453 U.S. 490 (1981)
• Grayned v. City of Rockford · 408 U.S. 104 (1972)
• Widmar v. Vincent · 454 U.S. 263 (1981)
• Kunz v. New York · 340 U.S. 290 (1951)
• Niemotko v. Maryland · 340 U.S. 268 (1951)
• FW/PBS, Inc. v. City of Dallas · 493 U.S. 215 (1990)
• Shelton v. Tucker · 364 U.S. 479 (1960)
• Police Dept. of Chicago v. Mosley · 408 U.S. 92 (1972)
• Shuttlesworth v. City of Birmingham · 394 U.S. 147 (1969)
• Lehman v. City of Shaker Heights · 418 U.S. 298 (1974)
• Railway Express Agency, Inc. v. New York · 336 U.S. 106 (1949)
• Poulos v. New Hampshire · 345 U.S. 395 (1953)
• Times Film Corp. v. City of Chicago · 365 U.S. 43 (1961)
• Brinegar v. United States · 338 U.S. 160 (1949)
• Buckley v. Valeo · 424 U.S. 1 (1976)
• Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc. · 418 U.S. 323 (1974)
• Virginia State Board of Pharmacy v. Virginia Citizens Consumer Council, Inc. · 425 U.S. 748 (1976)
• Members of the City Council of Los Angeles v. Taxpayers for Vincent · 466 U.S. 789 (1984)
• Keyishian v. Board of Regents of Univ. of State of NY · 385 U.S. 589 (1967)
• Williams v. Rhodes · 393 U.S. 23 (1968)
• Freedman v. Maryland · 380 U.S. 51 (1965)
• Young v. American Mini Theatres, Inc. · 427 U.S. 50 (1976)
• Cox v. Louisiana · 379 U.S. 536 (1965)
• Terminiello v. Chicago · 337 U.S. 1 (1949)
• Dennis v. United States · 341 U.S. 494 (1951)
• Secretary of State of Md. v. Joseph H. Munson Co. · 467 U.S. 947 (1984)
• Schad v. Borough of Mount Ephraim · 452 U.S. 61 (1981)
• American Communications Assn. v. Douds · 339 U.S. 382 (1950)

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).