Source: https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/408/901.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-23 17:06:00+00:00

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For decision of the Court, see .
Mr. Justice REHNQUIST, with whom THE CHIEF JUSTICE and Mr. Justice BLACKMUN join, dissenting. [408 U.S. 901 , 902] Mr. Chief Justice BURGER, with whom Mr. Justice BLACKMUN and Mr. Justice REHNQUIST join, dissenting.
I am constrained to express my profound disagreement with what the Court does in these three cases on the basis of Gooding v. Wilson, 405 U.S. 518 (1972).
The important underlying aspect of these cases goes really to the function of law in preserving ordered liberty. Civilized people refrain from 'taking the law into their own hands' because of a belief that the government, as their agent, will take care of the problem in a organized, orderly way with as nearly a uniform response as human skills can manage. History is replete with evidence of what happens when the law cannot or does not provide a collective response for conduct so widely regarded as impermissible and intolerable.
Mr. Justice POWELL, with whom THE CHIEF JUSTICE and Mr. Justice BLACKMUN join, dissenting.
This case presents an example of gross abuse of the respected privilege in this country of allowing every citizen to speak his mind. Appellant addressed a public school board meeting attended by about 150 people, approximately 40 of whom were children and 25 of whom were women. In the course of his remarks he used the adjective 'M05q F05q' on four occasions, to describe the teachers, the school board, the town and his own country.
'Any person who utters loud and offensive or profane or indecent language in any public street or other public place, public conveyance, or place to which the public is invited . . . is a disorderly person.' N.J.Rev.Stat. 2A:170-29(1) (1970).
'. . . the words must be spoken loudly, in a public place and must be of such a nature as to be likely to incite the hearer to an immediate breach of the peace or to be likely, in the light of the gender and age of the listener and the setting of the utterance, to affect the sensibilities of a hearer. The words [408 U.S. 901 , 905] must be spoken with the intent to have the above effect or with a reckless disregard of the probability of the above consequences.' State v. Profaci, 56 N.J. 346, 353, 266 A.2d 579, 583-584 (1970).
The Court today decides to vacate and remand this case for reconsideration in light of Gooding v. Wilson, 405 U.S. 518 (1972), and Cohen v. California, 403 U.S. 15 (1971). As it seems to me that neither of these cases is directly relevant, and that considerations not present in those cases are here controlling, I respectfully dissent.
Perhaps appellant's language did not constitute 'fighting words' within the meaning of Chaplinsky. While most of those attending the school board meeting were undoubtedly outraged and offended, the good taste and restraint of such an audience may have made it unlikely that physical violence would result. Moreover, the offensive words were not directed at a specific individual. But the exception to First Amendment protection recognized in Chaplinsky is not limited to words whose mere utterance entails a cal violence. It also extends to the willful use of scurrilous language calculated ful use of scurrilous language calculated to offend the sensibilities of an unwilling audience.
'Apart from punishing profane or obscene word which are spoken in circumstances which create a threat of violence, the state may also have a legitimate interest in stopping one person from 'inflict[ing] injury' [Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire, 315 U.S., at 572 ] on others by verbally assaulting them with language which is grossly offensive because of its profane or obscene character. The fact [408 U.S. 901 , 906] that a person may constitutionally indulge his taste for obscenities in private does not mean that he is free to intrude them upon the attentions of others.' 419 F.2d, at 646.
'[The overbreadth doctrine] results often in the wholesale invalidation of the legislature's handiwork, creating a judicial- legislative confrontation.
Because a 'judicial-legislative confrontation' often results from application of the overbreadth doctrine, and because it is a departure from the normal method of judicial review,2 it should be applied with restraint. In my view, the doctrine is not applicable in this case.
"It is designed and intended to remove governmental restraints from the arena of public discussion, putting the decision as to what views shall be voiced largely into the hands of each of us, in the hope that use of such freedom will ultimately produce a more capable citizenry and more perfect polity and in the belief that no other approach would comport with the premise of individual dignity and choice upon which our political system rests. See Whitney v. California, 274 U.S. 357, 375 -377 (1927) ( Brandeis, J., concurring).' 403 U.S., at 24 .
The line between such rights and the type of conduct proscribed by the New Jersey statute is difficult to draw. [408 U.S. 901 , 909] The preservation of the right of free and robust speech is accorded high priority in our society and under the Constitution. Yet, there are other significant values. One of the hallmarks of a civilized society is the level and quality of discourse. We have witnessed in recent years a disquieting deterioration in standards of taste and civility in speech. For the increasing number of persons who derive satisfaction from vocabularies dependent upon filth and obscenities, there are abundant opportunities to gratify their debased tastes. But our free society must be flexible enough to tolerate even such a debasement provided it occurs without subjecting unwilling audiences to the type of verbal nuisance committed in this case. The shock and sense of affront, and sometimes the injury to mind and spirit, can be as great from words as from some physical attacks.
I conclude in this case that appellant's utterances fall within the proscription of the New Jersey statute, and are not protected by the First Amendment. Accordingly, I would dismiss the appeal for want of a substantial federal question.
Mr. Justice REHNQUIST, with whom THE CHIEF JUSTICE and Mr. Justice BLACKMUN join, dissents; for dissenting opinion see .
In Rosenfeld, appellant appeared and spoke at a public school board meeting that was held in an auditorium and was attended by more than 150 men, women, and children of mixed ethnic and racial backgrounds. It was estimated that there were approximately 40 children and 25 women present at the meeting. During his speech, appellant used the adjective 'M--- f---' on four different occasions while concluding his remarks. Testimony varied as to what particular nouns were joined with this adjective, but they were said to include teachers, the community, the school system, the schoolboard, the country, the county, and the town.
'Any person who utters loud and offensive or profane or indecent language in any public street or other public place, public conveyance or place to which the public is invited . . . 'is a disorderly person." N.J.S. 2A: 170-29.1.
'. . . the words must be spoken loudly, in a public place and must be of such a nature as to be likely to incite the hearer to an immediate breach of the peace or to be likely, in the light of the gender and age of the listener and the setting of the utterance, to affect the sensibilities of a hearer. The words must be spoken with the intent to have the above effect or with a reckless disregard of the probability of the above consequences.' State v. [408 U.S. 901 , 911] Profaci, 56 N.J. 346, 353, 266 A.2d 579, 383 (1970).
The Court vacates and remands these cases for reconsideration in the light of Gooding v. Wilson, 405 U.S. 518 ( 1972), and Cohen v. California, 403 U.S. 15 ( 1971) (the latter decided some five months before the opinion of the New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division, which upheld Rosenfeld's conviction, and 10 months before that of the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals in Brown).
'There are certain well-defined and narrowly limited classes of speech, the prevention and punishment of which have never been thought to raise [408 U.S. 901 , 912] any constitutional problems. These include the lewd and obscene, the profane, the libelous, and the insulting or 'fighting' words-those which by their very utterance inflict injury or tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace. It has been well observed that such utterances are no essential part of any exposition of ideas, and are of such slight social value as a step to truth that any benefit that may be derived from them is clearly outweighed by the social interest in order and morality. 'Resort to epithets or personal abuse is not in any proper sense communication of information or opinion safeguarded by the Constitution, and its punishment as a criminal act would raise no question under that instrument.' Cantwell v. Connecticut, 310 U.S. 296 , 309-310.' 315 U.S., at 572 , 62 S.Ct. at 769.
The language used by these appellants therefore clearly falls within the class of punishable utterances described in Chaplinsky.
'The constitutional guarantees of freedom of speech forbid the States from punishing the use of words or language not within 'narrowly limited classes of speech.' Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire, 315 U.S. 568, 571 (1942). Even as to such a class, however, because 'the line between speech unconditionally guaranteed and speech which may legitimately be regulated, suppressed, or punished is finely drawn,' Speiser v. Randall, 357 U.S. 513, 525 (1958), '[i]n every case the power to regulate must be so exercised as not, in obtaining a permissible end, unduly to infringe the protected freedom,' Cant- [408 U.S. 901 , 913] well v. Connecticut, 310 U.S. 296, 304 ( 1940). In other words, the statute must be carefully drawn or be authoritatively construed to punish only unprotected speech and not be susceptible of application to protected expression.' Gooding v. Wilson, supra, 405 U.S. at 521-522, 92 S.Ct. at 1106.
Unless we are to distort the doctrine of overbreadth into a verbal game of logic chopping and sentence parsing reminiscent of common law pleading, it cannot fairly be said here that either the New Orleans ordinance, or the New Jersey statute as construed by the highest court of that State, could reasonably be thought 'unduly to infringe the protected freedom,' Cantwell v. Connecticut, supra.
I would dismiss these appeals for lack of a substantial federal question.
[ Footnote 1 ] Insofar as the Court's decision in Gooding turns on vagueness principles, it seems inapplicable to this case. The essence of the due process vagueness concern is that no man shall be punished for violating a statute which is not 'sufficiently explicit to inform those who are subject to it what conduct on their part will render them lable to its penalties.' Connally v. General Construction Co., 269 U.S. 385, 391 , 46 S. Ct. 126 (1926). Although the New Jersey statute involved in this case is hardly a model of clarity, it cannot reasonably be said that appellant could have been unaware that the language used under the circumstances was prescribed by the statute. Unless he is a person of infirm mentality, appellant certainly knew that his deliberate use four times of what Mr. Justice Harlan terms in Cohen a 'scurrilous epithet,' in the presence of a captive audience of women and children, violated the statute.
[ Footnote 2 ] See, e. g., United States v. Raines, 362 U.S. 17 , 20-22 (1960).
[ Footnote 3 ] See Note, The First Amendment Overbreadth Doctrine, 83 Harv.L.Rev. 844, 853 (1970).
[ Footnote 4 ] Nor does the continued existence of the New Jersey statute, which must now be construed and applied by the New Jersey courts in light of Gooding, have the effect of deterring others in the exercise of their First Amendment rights. To remand this case with the suggestion that the overbreadth doctrine be applied accomplishes only one result: it creates the potential that appellant will receive an undeserved windfall.
I recognize, of course, that serious definitional and enforcement problems are likely to arise even where the statutes in this area are carefully drawn. Yet, the inherent difficulty of the problem is not sufficient reason for legislatures and the courts to abdicate their responsibility to protect non-assenting citizens from verbal conduct which is so grossly offensive as to amount to a nuisance.

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