Court Opinion

ID: 9429167
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:25:52.379175+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:23:17.573558
License: Public Domain

Justice Marshall,
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
I would hold 40 U. S. C. § 13k unconstitutional on its face. The statute in no way distinguishes the sidewalks from the rest of the premises, and excising the sidewalks from its purview does not bring it into conformity with the First Amendment. Visitors to this Court do not lose their First Amendment rights at the edge of the sidewalks any more than “students or teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.” Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, 393 U. S. 503, 506 (1969). Since the continuing existence of the statute will inevitably have a chilling effect on freedom of expression, there is no virtue in deciding its constitutionality on a piecemeal basis.
When a citizen is “in a place where [he] has every right to be,” Brown v. Louisiana, 383 U. S. 131, 142 (1966) (opinion of Fortas, J., joined by Warren, C. J., and Douglas, J.), he cannot be denied the opportunity to express his views simply because the Government has not chosen to designate the area as a forum for public discussion. While the right to conduct expressive activities in such areas as streets, parks, and sidewalks is reinforced by their traditional use for purposes of assembly, Hague v. CIO, 307 U. S. 496, 515 (1939) (opinion of Roberts, J., joined by Black, J.), that right ultimately rests on the principle that “one who is rightfully on a street which the state has left open to the public carries with him there as elsewhere the constitutional right to express his views in an orderly fashion.” Jamison v. Texas, 318 U. S. 413, 416 (1943) (emphasis added). Every citizen lawfully present in a *185public place has a right to engage in peaceable and orderly expression that is not incompatible with the primary activity of the place in question, whether that place is a school,1 a library,2 a private lunch counter,3 the grounds of a statehouse,4 the grounds of the United States Capitol,5 a bus terminal,6 an airport,7 or a welfare center.8 As we stated in Grayned v. City of Rockford, 408 U. S. 104, 116 (1972), “[t]he crucial question is whether the manner of expression is basically incompatible with the normal activity of a particular place at a particular time.” “[O]ne is not to have the exercise of his liberty of expression in appropriate places abridged on the plea that it may be exercised in some other place.” Schneider v. State, 308 U. S. 147, 163 (1939).
I see no reason why the premises of this Court should be exempt from this basic principle. It would be ironic indeed if an exception to the Constitution were to be recognized for the very institution that has the chief responsibility for protecting constitutional rights. I would apply to the premises of this Court the same principle that this Court has applied to other public places.
Viewed in this light, 40 U. S. C. § 13k is plainly unconstitutional on its face. The statute is not a reasonable regulation *186of time, place, and manner, cf., e. g., Kovacs v. Cooper, 336 U. S. 77, 87-89 (1949); Cox v. New Hampshire, 312 U. S. 569, 575-576 (1941), for it applies at all times, covers the entire premises, and, as interpreted by the Court, proscribes even the handing out of a leaflet and, presumably, the wearing of a campaign button as well.9
Nor does the statute merely forbid conduct that is incompatible with the primary activity being carried out in this Court. Cf. Grayned v. City of Rockford, supra, at 116; Greer v. Spock, 424 U. S. 828, 843 (1976) (Powell, J., concurring). In contrast to 18 U. S. C. § 1507 (1976 ed., Supp. V) and the statute upheld in Cox v. Louisiana, 379 U. S. 559 (1965),10 40 U. S. C. § 13k is not limited to expressive activities that are intended to interfere with, obstruct, or impede the administration of justice. In Cox the Court stressed that a prohibition of expression “unrelated to any judicial proceedings” would raise “entirely different considerations.” 379 U. S., at 567. The statute at issue here is a far cry from *187both 18 U. S. C. § 1507 (1976 ed., Supp. V) and the statute upheld in Cox, for it imposes a blanket prohibition on the “display” of “any flag, banner, or device designed or adapted to bring into public notice any party, organization, or movement.” (Emphasis added.) The application of the statute does not depend upon whether the flag, banner, or device in any way concerns a case before this Court. So sweeping a prohibition is scarcely necessary to protect the operations of this Court, and in my view cannot constitutionally be applied either to the Court grounds or to the areas inside the Court building that are open to the public.
I would therefore hold the prohibition unconstitutional on its face.11 We have repeatedly recognized that a statute which sweeps within its ambit a broad range of expression protected by the First Amendment should be struck down on its face.12 “The existence of such a statute . . . results in a continuous and pervasive restraint on all freedom of discus*188sion that might reasonably be regarded as within its purview.” Thornhill v. Alabama, 310 U. S. 88, 97-98 (1940) (footnote omitted). As Justice Brennan stated in his opinion for the Court in NAACP v. Button, 371 U. S. 415, 433 (1963), First Amendment freedoms “are delicate and vulnerable,” and “[t]he threat of sanctions may deter their exercise almost as potently as the actual application of sanctions.” I would not leave visitors to this Court subject to the continuing threat of imprisonment13 if they dare to exercise their First Amendment rights once inside the sidewalks.

 Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, 393 U. S. 503, 512-513 (1969).

 Brown v. Louisiana, 383 U. S. 131, 142 (1966); id., at 146, and n. 5 (Brennan, J., concurring in judgment).

 Garner v. Louisiana, 368 U. S. 157, 201-202 (1961) (Harlan, J., concurring in judgment).

 Edwards v. South Carolina, 372 U. S. 229 (1963).

 Jeannette Rankin Brigade v. Chief of Capitol Police, 342 F. Supp. 575 (DC), summarily aff’d, 409 U. S. 972 (1972).

 Wolin v. Port of New York Authority, 392 F. 2d 83 (GA2), cert. denied, 393 U. S. 940 (1968).

 Chicago Area Military Project v. City of Chicago, 508 F. 2d 921 (CA7), cert. denied, 421 U. S. 992 (1975); Kuszynski v. City of Oakland, 479 F. 2d 1130 (CA9 1973).

 Albany Welfare Rights Organization v. Wyman, 493 F. 2d 1319 (CA2), cert. denied, 419 U. S. 838 (1974).

 Separate provisions of the United States Code also make it a crime to solicit contributions or give a speech on the premises. 40 U. S. C. §§ 13h and 13j.

 Title 18 U. S. C. § 1507 (1976 ed., Supp. V) provides in pertinent part:
“Whoever, with the intent of interfering with, obstructing, or impeding the administration of justice, or with the intent of influencing any judge, juror, witness, or court officer, in the discharge of his duty, pickets or parades in or near a building housing a court of the United States, ... or with such intent uses any sound-truck or similar device or resorts to any other demonstration in or near any such building . . . shall be fined not more than $5,000 or imprisoned for not more than one year, or both.”
The Louisiana statute upheld on its face in Cox provided in pertinent part:
“Whoever, with the intent of interfering with, obstructing, or impeding the administration of justice, or with the intent of influencing any judge, juror, witness, or court officer, in the discharge of his duty pickets or parades in or near a building housing a court of the State of Louisiana . . . shall be fined not more than five thousand dollars or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.” La. Rev. Stat. § 14:401 (Supp. 1962).

 I agree with the Court that the clause of 40 U. S. C. § 13k prohibiting processions or assemblages is not before us, since neither of the appellees engaged in a procession or assemblage.

 E. g., United States v. Robel, 389 U. S. 258 (1967); Keyishian v. Board of Regents, 385 U. S. 589, 604, 609-610 (1967); Elfbrandt v. Russell, 384 U. S. 11, 19 (1966); Dombrowski v. Pfister, 380 U. S. 479, 486 (1965); Thornhill v. Alabama, 310 U. S. 88, 97-98 (1940); Lovell v. Griffin, 303 U. S. 444, 451 (1938).
Indeed, to protect third parties not before the Court, we have held that even “a litigant whose own activities are unprotected may nevertheless challenge a statute by showing that it substantially abridges the First Amendment rights of other parties not before the court.” Schaumburg v. Citizens for a Better Environment, 444 U. S. 620, 634 (1980) (emphasis added). E. g., Erznoznik v. City of Jacksonville, 422 U. S. 205 (1975); Lewis v. City of New Orleans, 415 U. S. 130 (1974); Broadrick v. Oklahoma, 413 U. S. 601 (1973); Gooding v. Wilson, 405 U. S. 518 (1972); Kunz v. New York, 340 U. S. 290 (1951); NAACP v. Button, 371 U. S. 415, 432-433 (1963). If such a showing is made, the statute will be struck down on its face.
An overbroad statute should likewise be struck down on its face where, as here, it is challenged by litigants whose own activities are constitution-allyprotected.

 A person who violates the statute is subject to imprisonment for 60 days or a $100 fine, or both. 40 U. S. C. § 13m.