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Edwards v. South Carolina - Significance, Uncodified Breach Of Peace Crime Held Not A "time, Place, And Manner" Restriction

appellant appellee court decision

Appellant

James Edwards, Jr.

Appellee

State of South Carolina

Appellant's Claim

That the South Carolina common law crime of breach of the peace, as applied to a peaceful march to protest racial discrimination, infringes on the First Amendment guarantee of free speech.

Chief Lawyer for Appellant

Jack Greenberg

Chief Lawyer for Appellee

Lionel R. McLeod

Justices for the Court

Hugo Lafayette Black, William J. Brennan, Jr., William O. Douglas, Arthur Goldberg, John Marshall Harlan II, Potter Stewart, Earl Warren, Byron R. White

Justices Dissenting

Tom C. Clark

Place

Washington, D.C.

Date of Decision

25 February 1963

Decision

The Supreme Court struck down the convictions of the civil rights demonstrators for breach of peace.

Further Readings

  • African Americans and the Living Constitution. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1995.
  • Bell, Derrick A. Race, Racism, and American Law, 2nd ed. Boston: Little, Brown, 1980.
  • Worton, Stanley N. Freedom of Assembly and Petition. Rochelle Park, NJ: Hayden Book Co, 1975.

Additional Topics

Edwards v. South Carolina - Significance

Using the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, the Court made it illegal for states to criminalize peaceful expressions of unpopular views. On the morning of 2 March 1961, roughly 200 African American high school and college students assembled at the Zion Baptist Church in Columbia, South Carolina. They proceeded to walk, in groups of 15, to the nearby state house grounds, an area open …

Edwards v. South Carolina - Uncodified Breach Of Peace Crime Held Not A "time, Place, And Manner" Restriction

Justice Stewart's opinion, expressing the views of the majority of the Court, was referring to the so-called "time, place, and manner" restrictions which are often upheld in First Amendment cases. The assumption implicit in the "time, place, and manner" doctrine is that where it is possible to distinguish between the message certain speech is intended to convey and the manner in which it is commun…

Eisenstadt v. Baird - Significance, Among The Lower Courts, At The Supreme Court, Further Readings [next] [back] Dunn v. Blumstein - The Durational Residency Requirement, Close Constitutional Scrutiny, Further Readings

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3 months ago

keandra

im doing a project on edward vs. south carolina and this site is giving me alot of good details thanks!

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over 2 years ago

hi im doing a project on this case for my civics class, and i was wondering if you could explain to me if the the majority was on Edwards side or not???please and thank you

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about 3 years ago

I'm doing a project on this, and I was wondering if you knew Edwards first name if that is not his first name?

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about 3 years ago

I'm doing a presentation on this case for American Government, this helped me out alot, thanks very much.

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about 4 years ago

This was very helpful for a project of mine. Thank you