Eisenstadt v. Baird

Baird was tried before Massachusetts Superior Court Judge Donald B. Macaulay in October of 1967. Represented by attorney Joseph J. Balliro, who took the case without charge, Baird waived his right to a jury trial.

Assistant District Attorney Joseph R. Nolan called police lieutenant Joseph Jordan to the stand. Jordan, who had arrested Baird at Boston University, described Baird's speech and his actions. Balliro argued that the Massachusetts law was unconstitutional. Macaulay found Baird guilty of violating the law, but postponed Baird's sentencing until an appeal was heard.

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court heard the case in November of 1968. Nolan characterized Baird's actions at Boston University as "an invitation to promiscuity and sexual license," and he defended the commonwealth's objective of "preventing the distribution of articles designed to prevent conception which may have undesirable, if not dangerous, physical consequences."

In April of 1969, the court overturned Baird's conviction for displaying contraceptives, on the basis that this had been part of a speech protected by the First Amendment. However, it affirmed Baird's criminal conviction for distributing the contraceptive foam on the basis that Baird was not a physician, nurse, or pharmacist legally entitled in Massachusetts to engage in such conduct. Returning to the Suffolk County Superior Court, Baird was sentenced to three months. Macaulay agreed to postpone Baird's imprisonment pending an appeal to the Supreme Court, but, to the surprise of many, the Court would not hear Baird's appeal.

Balliro filed a habeas corpus petition in federal district court. When U.S. District Judge Anthony J. Julian had not ruled by 20 February, Baird went to the Charles Street jail in Boston and surrendered to Suffolk County sheriff Thomas Eisenstadt. Julian heard oral arguments at the end of the month and in March of 1970, denied the habeas corpus petition. The denial entitled Baird to appeal to the First Circuit Court of Appeals. This court ordered that Baird be set free until his appeal could be heard. On 6 July, the court ruled that the Massachusetts birth control law was unconstitutional and reversed Baird's remaining conviction.