| Board of Airport Commissioners of Los Angeles v. Jews for Jesus, Inc. | ||||||
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Supreme Court of the United States |
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| Argued March 3, 1987 Decided June 15, 1987 |
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| Full case name | Board of Airport Commissioners of Los Angeles v. Jews for Jesus, Inc. | |||||
| Citations | 482 U.S. 569 (more) 107 S. Ct. 2568; 96 L. Ed. 2d 500; 1987 U.S. LEXIS 2619; 55 U.S.L.W. 4855 |
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| Prior history | Cert. to the Circuit Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit | |||||
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| Case opinions | ||||||
| Majority | O'Connor, joined by unanimous | |||||
| Laws applied | ||||||
| First and Fourteenth Amendments | ||||||
Board of Airport Commissioners of Los Angeles v. Jews for Jesus, Inc. 482 U.S. 569 (1987), is a case in which the United States Supreme Court held that an ordinance prohibiting all "First Amendment activities" in the Los Angeles International Airport was facially unconstitutional due to its overbreadth.
The unanimous opinion was written by Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. O'Connor wrote that the ordinance "reaches the universe of expressive activity, and, by prohibiting all protected expression, purports to create a virtual 'First Amendment Free Zone' at LAX". The Airport Commissioners argued that the ordinance would only be applied against activities that were related to the airport, but O'Connor pointed out that "wearing of a T-shirt or button that contains a political message" would still fall within the prohibition.
In a brief concurrence, Justice White expressed his concern that the decision did not address the question of whether the airport constituted a public forum.