Speiser v. Randall, Assessor of Contra Costa County, California

Decided June 30, 1958. William Joseph Brennan Jr. delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 483 · 357 U.S. 513 (1958) · Cited 1,658 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 7–1.

“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.

• Yates v. United States · 354 U.S. 298 (1957)
• Dennis v. United States · 341 U.S. 494 (1951)
• American Communications Assn. v. Douds · 339 U.S. 382 (1950)
• Staub v. City of Baxley · 355 U.S. 313 (1958)
• Gerende v. Board of Supervisors of Elections of Baltimore · 341 U.S. 56 (1951)
• Thomas v. Collins · 323 U.S. 516 (1945)
• Murdock v. Pennsylvania · 319 U.S. 105 (1943)
• Whitney v. California · 274 U.S. 357 (1927)
• Adler v. Board of Ed. of City of New York · 342 U.S. 485 (1952)
• Pennsylvania v. Nelson · 350 U.S. 497 (1956)
• Garner v. Board of Public Works of Los Angeles · 341 U.S. 716 (1951)
• Lipke v. Lederer · 259 U.S. 557 (1922)
• Cantwell v. Connecticut · 310 U.S. 296 (1940)
• West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette · 319 U.S. 624 (1943)
• Gitlow v. New York · 268 U.S. 652 (1925)
• Grosjean v. American Press Co. · 297 U.S. 233 (1936)
• Wieman v. Updegraff · 344 U.S. 183 (1952)
• Kingsley Books, Inc. v. Brown · 354 U.S. 436 (1957)
• Powell v. Alabama · 287 U.S. 45 (1932)
• Snyder v. Massachusetts · 291 U.S. 97 (1934)
• Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire · 315 U.S. 568 (1942)
• Everson v. Board of Ed. of Ewing · 330 U.S. 1 (1947)
• Schneider v. State (Town of Irvington) · 308 U.S. 147 (1939)
• Near v. Minnesota Ex Rel. Olson · 283 U.S. 697 (1931)
• Stromberg v. California · 283 U.S. 359 (1931)
• Lovell v. City of Griffin · 303 U.S. 444 (1938)
• Winters v. New York · 333 U.S. 507 (1948)
• Tot v. United States · 319 U.S. 463 (1943)
• Douglas v. City of Jeannette · 319 U.S. 157 (1943)
• Bridges v. California · 314 U.S. 252 (1941)

Cited by

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

• Konigsberg v. State Bar of Cal. · 366 U.S. 36 (1961)
• Law Students Civil Rights Research Council, Inc. v. Wadmond · 401 U.S. 154 (1971)
• Waters v. Churchill · 511 U.S. 661 (1994)
• Wyman v. James · 400 U.S. 309 (1971)
• Rutan v. Republican Party of Illinois · 497 U.S. 62 (1990)
• Regan v. Taxation With Representation of Washington · 461 U.S. 540 (1983)
• New York Times Co. v. Sullivan · 376 U.S. 254 (1964)
• Cammarano v. United States · 358 U.S. 498 (1959)
• Murel v. Baltimore City Criminal Court · 407 U.S. 355 (1972)
• Patterson v. New York · 432 U.S. 197 (1977)
• Keyishian v. Board of Regents of Univ. of State of NY · 385 U.S. 589 (1967)
• Paris Adult Theatre I v. Slaton · 413 U.S. 49 (1973)
• Board of Regents of State Colleges v. Roth · 408 U.S. 564 (1972)
• In Re WINSHIP · 397 U.S. 358 (1970)
• Sherbert v. Verner · 374 U.S. 398 (1963)
• Dombrowski v. Pfister · 380 U.S. 479 (1965)
• Kennedy v. Mendoza-Martinez · 372 U.S. 144 (1963)
• Arnett v. Kennedy · 416 U.S. 134 (1974)
• Rust v. Sullivan · 500 U.S. 173 (1991)
• Smith v. California · 361 U.S. 147 (1959)
• Medina v. California · 505 U.S. 437 (1992)
• Philadelphia Newspapers, Inc. v. Hepps · 475 U.S. 767 (1986)
• Counterman v. Colorado · 600 U.S. 66 (2023)
• Illinois Ex Rel. Madigan, Attorney General of Illinois v. Telemarketing Associates, Inc. · 538 U.S. 600 (2003)
• Jackson v. Virginia · 443 U.S. 307 (1979)
• Perry v. Sindermann · 408 U.S. 593 (1972)
• Elrod v. Burns · 427 U.S. 347 (1976)
• United States v. Raddatz · 447 U.S. 667 (1980)
• Bose Corp. v. Consumers Union of United States, Inc. · 466 U.S. 485 (1984)
• First Nat. Bank of Boston v. Bellotti · 435 U.S. 765 (1978)

Official text

Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)

Explore from here

William Joseph Brennan Jr.’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

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).