Cox v. Louisiana

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Cox v. Louisiana

Supreme Court of the United States

Argued October 21, 1964
Decided January 18, 1965


Full case name:	Reverend Mr. B. Elton Cox v. Louisiana

Citations:	379 U.S. 536; 85 S. Ct. 453; 13 L. Ed. 2d 471; 1965 U.S. LEXIS 2008

Holding

Court membership

Chief Justice: Earl Warren
Associate Justices: Hugo Black, William O. Douglas, Tom C. Clark, John Marshall Harlan II, William J. Brennan, Potter Stewart, Byron White, Arthur Joseph Goldberg

Case opinions

Majority by: Goldberg
Concurrence by: Black
Concurrence by: Clark
Concurrence/dissent by: White

Cox v. Louisiana, 379 U.S. 536 (1965), was a United States Supreme Court case based on the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. It held that a state government cannot employ "breach of the peace" statutes against protesters engaging in peaceable demonstrations that may potentially incite violence.

[edit] Background of the case

The case arose after the picketing of a segregated restaurant in Baton Rouge, Louisiana led to 23 student protesters from a black college being arrested. The next day, Cox, a minister, arranged a protest of 2,000 people at the courthouse where the students were being held. The police agreed to allow the protest as long as it was across the street from the courthouse.

Between 100 to 300 whites gathered on the other side of the street. The protesters began to sing songs and hymns causing the jailed students to respond by singing.

Cox then gave a speech urging the demonstrators to sit at the segregated lunch counters causing "muttering" and "grumbling" in the crowd across the street.

A sheriff then ordered the protesters to disperse. When they would not, the police used tear gas to disperse the crowd. The next day Cox was arrested.

[edit] Court's decision

Justice Goldberg, writing for the court, overturned his conviction.

A key piece of evidence, countering the State's claim that the singing from the jail turned the peaceful assembly into a riotous one, was a film of the protest showing that it was peaceful until tear gas was used by the police.