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Boos v. Barry - Significance, The Split Over Part Ii, Parts Iii, Iv, And V, Foreign Embassies

court decision clause congregation

Petitioners

Michael Boos, Bridget M. Brooker, J. Michael Waller, Father R. David Finzer

Respondents

Marian Barry, Mayor of Washington, D.C., and other officials of the District of Columbia

Petitioners' Claim

That Section 22-1115 of the District of Columbia Code, which forbade the display of any sign within 500 feet of a foreign embassy if that sign brings the foreign government into "public odium" or "public disrepute," and also prohibited congregation of three or more persons within 500 feet of a foreign embassy, was in violation of the First Amendment's protection of free speech.

Chief Lawyer for Petitioners

Raymond D. Battocchi

Chief Lawyer for Respondents

Edward E. Schwab

Justices for the Court

William J. Brennan, Jr., Thurgood Marshall, Sandra Day O'Connor (writing for the Court), Antonin Scalia, John Paul Stevens

Justices Dissenting

Harry A. Blackmun, William H. Rehnquist, Byron R. White (Anthony M. Kennedy did not participate)

Place

Washington, D.C.

Date of Decision

22 March 1988

Decision

The decision of the lower court was affirmed in part and reversed in part, the finding being that the display clause of Section 22-1115 was in violation of the First Amendment, but the congregation clause was not.

A Five-Part Decision

Justice O'Connor delivered the opinion for the Court, a complex five-part decision over the second part of which the Court was split. In Part I, she stated that the Court reversed the court of appeals with regard to the display clause, but affirmed it in the area of the congregation clause. In this she was joined by Justices Brennan, Marshall, Stevens, and Scalia.

Related Cases

  • Frend v. United States, 69 App. D.C. 281,100 (1938).
  • Renton v. Playtime Theaters, 475 U.S. 41 (1986).
  • Hustler Magazine v. Falwell, 485 U.S. 46 (1988).

Sources

Jentleson, Bruce W. and Thomas G. Paterson, eds. Encyclopedia of U.S. Foreign Relations. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.

Further Readings

  • Hall, Kermit L., ed. The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992.

Additional Topics

Boos v. Barry - Significance

Boos v. Barry opened the way for more direct picketing of foreign embassies and other installations representative of a foreign government on U.S. soil. More significantly, it expanded the realm of protected speech under the First Amendment. On the other hand, it allowed certain aspects of public congregation for the purposes of protest to remain questionable. Thus it could be used, for instance, …

Boos v. Barry - The Split Over Part Ii

In Part II-A, Justice O'Connor, joined by Justices Stevens and Scalia, found that the display clause was indeed content-based, since its prohibition of picketing was based on whether or not the picket signs were critical of the government in question. Even if it were construed as content-neutral because it does not choose between different viewpoints, she said, it still violated the First Amendmen…

Boos v. Barry - Parts Iii, Iv, And V

The Court was unanimous on Part III, which addressed the petitioners' facial overbreadth challenge to the congregation clause, holding that it gave the police unrestricted authority to suppress demonstrations. While the clause could be considered to violate free speech if taken alone, the Court stated, in line with the display clause and the Court of Appeals' interpretation of the law as applying …

Boos v. Barry - Foreign Embassies

Along with its many federal buildings and headquarters of national organizations, the city of Washington, D.C. is dotted with foreign embassies. There are the vast facilities representing large nations which enjoy significant interaction with the United States, embassies which in many cases employ hundreds of staff members. But there are also embassies for countries such as Luxembourg, a nation sm…

Booth v. Maryland - Significance, Victim Impact Statements, Further Readings [next] [back] Bolger v. Youngs Drug Products Corp. - Significance, Teaching Americans To Use Condoms, Political Speech And Commercial Speech, When The Government May Regulate Commercial Speech

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