Smith v. California

Decided December 14, 1959. William Joseph Brennan Jr. delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 9 · 361 U.S. 147 (1959) · Cited 1,258 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 9–0.

“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.

• Roth v. United States · 354 U.S. 476 (1957)
• Speiser v. Randall · 357 U.S. 513 (1958)
• Morissette v. United States · 342 U.S. 246 (1952)
• Near v. Minnesota Ex Rel. Olson · 283 U.S. 697 (1931)
• Wieman v. Updegraff · 344 U.S. 183 (1952)
• United States v. Balint · 258 U.S. 250 (1922)
• Beauharnais v. Illinois · 343 U.S. 250 (1952)
• Kingsley International Pictures Corp. v. Regents of the University · 360 U.S. 684 (1959)
• Boyd v. United States · 116 U.S. 616 (1886)
• West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette · 319 U.S. 624 (1943)
• Thornhill v. Alabama · 310 U.S. 88 (1940)
• Winters v. New York · 333 U.S. 507 (1948)
• Dennis v. United States · 341 U.S. 494 (1951)
• American Communications Assn. v. Douds · 339 U.S. 382 (1950)
• Grosjean v. American Press Co. · 297 U.S. 233 (1936)
• Lambert v. California · 355 U.S. 225 (1957)
• Giboney v. Empire Storage & Ice Co. · 336 U.S. 490 (1949)
• Joseph Burstyn, Inc. v. Wilson · 343 U.S. 495 (1952)
• Barron Ex Rel. Tiernan v. Mayor of Baltimore · 32 U.S. 243 (1833)
• Staub v. City of Baxley · 355 U.S. 313 (1958)
• Edwards v. California · 314 U.S. 160 (1941)
• Dean Milk Co. v. City of Madison · 340 U.S. 349 (1951)
• Brinkerhoff-Faris Trust & Savings Co. v. Hill · 281 U.S. 673 (1930)
• National Labor Relations Board v. Virginia Electric & Power Co. · 314 U.S. 469 (1941)
• Fox v. Washington · 236 U.S. 273 (1915)

Cited by

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

• Times Film Corp. v. City of Chicago · 365 U.S. 43 (1961)
• Paris Adult Theatre I v. Slaton · 413 U.S. 49 (1973)
• Manual Enterprises, Inc. v. Day · 370 U.S. 478 (1962)
• United States v. X-Citement Video, Inc. · 513 U.S. 64 (1994)
• New York Times Co. v. Sullivan · 376 U.S. 254 (1964)
• Hamling v. United States · 418 U.S. 87 (1974)
• Branzburg v. Hayes · 408 U.S. 665 (1972)
• Stanley v. Georgia · 394 U.S. 557 (1969)
• Ginsberg v. New York · 390 U.S. 629 (1968)
• Bantam Books, Inc. v. Sullivan · 372 U.S. 58 (1963)
• Baggett v. Bullitt · 377 U.S. 360 (1964)
• Ginzburg v. United States · 383 U.S. 463 (1966)
• Elonis v. United States · 575 U.S. 723 (2015)
• A Quantity of Copies of Books v. Kansas · 378 U.S. 205 (1964)
• Counterman v. Colorado · 600 U.S. 66 (2023)
• National Ass'n for the Advancement of Colored People v. Button · 371 U.S. 415 (1963)
• Miller v. California · 413 U.S. 15 (1973)
• Jacobellis v. Ohio · 378 U.S. 184 (1964)
• Time, Inc. v. Hill · 385 U.S. 374 (1967)
• Marcus v. Search Warrant of Property · 367 U.S. 717 (1961)
• United States v. Thirty-Seven (37) Photographs · 402 U.S. 363 (1971)
• United States v. Freed · 401 U.S. 601 (1971)
• Alexander v. United States · 509 U.S. 544 (1993)
• Mishkin v. New York · 383 U.S. 502 (1966)
• Cramp v. Board of Public Instruction of Orange Cty. · 368 U.S. 278 (1961)
• Kaplan v. California · 413 U.S. 115 (1973)
• Dyson v. Stein · 401 U.S. 200 (1971)
• Gideon v. Wainwright · 372 U.S. 335 (1963)
• Buckley v. Valeo · 424 U.S. 1 (1976)
• Broadrick v. Oklahoma · 413 U.S. 601 (1973)

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).