Smith, Judge, et al. v. Daily Mail Publishing Co. et al.

Decided June 26, 1979. Warren Earl Burger delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 78-482 · 443 U.S. 97 (1979) · Cited 452 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.

• Davis v. Alaska · 415 U.S. 308 (1974)
• Landmark Communications, Inc. v. Virginia · 435 U.S. 829 (1978)
• Nebraska Press Assn. v. Stuart · 427 U.S. 539 (1976)
• Near v. Minnesota Ex Rel. Olson · 283 U.S. 697 (1931)
• Branzburg v. Hayes · 408 U.S. 665 (1972)
• Cox Broadcasting Corp. v. Cohn · 420 U.S. 469 (1975)
• Organization for a Better Austin v. Keefe · 402 U.S. 415 (1971)
• American Communications Assn. v. Douds · 339 U.S. 382 (1950)
• In Re GAULT · 387 U.S. 1 (1967)
• Kent v. United States · 383 U.S. 541 (1966)
• Southeastern Promotions, Ltd. v. Conrad · 420 U.S. 546 (1975)
• New York Times Co. v. United States · 403 U.S. 713 (1971)
• Bates v. City of Little Rock · 361 U.S. 516 (1960)
• Trimble v. Gordon · 430 U.S. 762 (1977)
• Houchins v. KQED, Inc. · 438 U.S. 1 (1978)
• Oklahoma Publishing Co. v. District Court in & for Oklahoma County · 430 U.S. 308 (1977)
• Jones v. Opelika · 316 U.S. 584 (1942)

Cited by

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

• Florida Star v. B. J. F. · 491 U.S. 524 (1989)
• Bartnicki v. Vopper · 532 U.S. 514 (2001)
• Cohen v. Cowles Media Co. · 501 U.S. 663 (1991)
• Globe Newspaper Co. v. Superior Court, County of Norfolk · 457 U.S. 596 (1982)
• New York v. Ferber · 458 U.S. 747 (1982)
• Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc. v. City of Hialeah · 508 U.S. 520 (1993)
• Press-Enterprise Co. v. Superior Court of Cal., County of Riverside · 478 U.S. 1 (1986)
• Edward J. DeBartolo Corp. v. Florida Gulf Coast Building & Construction Trades Council · 485 U.S. 568 (1988)
• Osborne v. Ohio · 495 U.S. 103 (1990)
• Alexander v. United States · 509 U.S. 544 (1993)
• United States v. Aguilar · 515 U.S. 593 (1995)
• Butterworth v. Smith · 494 U.S. 624 (1990)

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).