Police Department of Chicago v. Mosley

Public demonstrations for social, political, or labor causes have been a part of American life since before the establishment of the United States. In fact, demonstrations played a major role in spurring the American Revolution, and the founding fathers were undoubtedly looking to protect public political expression in the writing of the First Amendment. Likewise, the Supreme Court has consistently ruled in favor of free public expression of political beliefs within certain parameters. In Hague v. Committee for Industrial Organization (1939) the Court established the public forum doctrine. This doctrine maintains that government may not prohibit free political speech or related activities, including demonstrations, distribution of printed materials, and public speaking in favor of or opposing various policies or organizations. During the 1960s the public forum doctrine was repeatedly challenged, as public demonstrations became commonplace.

In August of 1967 Earl Mosley, an employee of the U.S. Postal Department, began a solitary protest against the hiring and admissions policies of the Jones Commercial High School in Chicago, Illinois. By the standards of the 1960s, a decade replete with violent demonstrations, Mosley's protest was quite unobtrusive. His usual method of operations consisted of walking back and forth on the sidewalk in front of the school carry a placard bearing a slogan, such as "Jones High School Practices Black Discrimination. Jones High School Has A Black Quota." Mosley always conducted himself in an orderly manner, and his protest was entirely nonviolent. On 26 March 1968, with Mosley's protest still in progress, the city of Chicago passed Municipal Code Chapter 193-1 (i), which prohibited

pickets or demonstrations on a public way within 150 feet of any primary or secondary school building while the school is in session and one-half hour before the school is in session and one-half hour after the school session has been concluded, provided that this subsection does not prohibit the peaceful picketing of any school involved in a labor dispute . . .

Upon hearing of the new ordinance, Mosley contacted the Chicago Police Department, which informed him that under the ordinance he would be arrested if he continued his protest. As such, Mosley resumed his protest at a distance of greater than 150 feet from the school, but found that the architecture and layout of the neighborhood rendered his picketing entirely ineffective at that distance. Finding his protest stymied, Mosley sought an injunction against Chapter 193-1 (i) in the district court.