Police Department of Chicago v. Mosley

Police Department of Chicago v. Mosley
Argued January 19, 1972
Decided June 26, 1972
Full case namePolice Department of the City of Chicago et al. v. Mosley.
Citations408 U.S. 92 (more)
92 S. Ct. 2286; 33 L. Ed. 2d 212
ArgumentOral argument
Case history
Prior432 F.2d 1256 (7th Cir. 1970); cert. granted, 404 U.S. 821 (1971).
Holding
A city ordinance prohibiting all picketing within 150 feet of a school, unless the school is undergoing a labor dispute, is unconstitutional under the First and Fourteenth Amendments.
Court membership
Chief Justice
Warren E. Burger
Associate Justices
William O. Douglas · William J. Brennan Jr.
Potter Stewart · Byron White
Thurgood Marshall · Harry Blackmun
Lewis F. Powell Jr. · William Rehnquist
Case opinions
MajorityMarshall, joined by Douglas, Brennan, Stewart, White, Powell
ConcurrenceBlackmun (without a written opinion), joined by Rehnquist
ConcurrenceBurger

Police Department of Chicago v. Mosley, 408 U.S. 92 (1972), was a United States Supreme Court case which concerned freedom of speech under the First Amendment. Oral argument for this case was consolidated with Grayned v. City of Rockford, but separate opinions were issued for each. Earl Mosley had protested employment discrimination by carrying a sign on the sidewalk in front of a Chicago high school, until the city of Chicago made it illegal to do so. Although Chicago believed that its ordinance was a time, place, or manner restriction, and therefore was a constitutional law, the Supreme Court ruled that it was a content-based restriction, because it treated labor-related protests differently from other protests. Since the ordinance did not meet the higher standards for content-based restrictions, it was ruled unconstitutional.