R.A.V. v. City of St. Paul
| R.A.V. v. City of St. Paul | |
|---|---|
| Argued December 4, 1991 Decided June 22, 1992 | |
| Full case name | R.A.V., Petitioner v. City of St. Paul, Minnesota |
| Docket no. | 90-7675 |
| Citations | 505 U.S. 377 (more) 112 S. Ct. 2538; 120 L. Ed. 2d 305; 1992 U.S. LEXIS 3863; 60 U.S.L.W. 4667; 92 Cal. Daily Op. Service 5299; 92 Daily Journal DAR 8395; 6 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. S 479 |
| Argument | Oral argument |
| Case history | |
| Prior | Statute upheld as constitutional and charges reinstated, 464 N.W.2d 507 (Minn. 1991) |
| Holding | |
| The St. Paul Bias-Motivated Crime Ordinance was struck down because the regulation was "content-based", proscribing only activities which conveyed messages concerning particular topics. Judgment of the Supreme Court of Minnesota reversed. | |
| Court membership | |
| |
| Case opinions | |
| Majority | Scalia, joined by Rehnquist, Kennedy, Souter, Thomas |
| Concurrence | White (in judgment), joined by Blackmun, O'Connor; Stevens (except Part I-A) |
| Concurrence | Blackmun (in judgment) |
| Concurrence | Stevens (in judgment), joined by White, Blackmun (Part I) |
| Laws applied | |
| U.S. Const., amend. I; St. Paul, Minn., Legis. Code § 292.02 (1990) | |
R.A.V. v. City of St. Paul, 505 U.S. 377 (1992), is a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States unanimously invalidated Saint Paul, Minnesota's Bias-Motivated Crime Ordinance and reversed the conviction of a teenager for burning a cross on the lawn of an African-American family. The ordinance was held to violate the First Amendment's protection of freedom of speech. The court reasoned that the ordinance constituted "viewpoint discrimination" that may cause exclusions from the marketplace of ideas.