Adderley v. Florida
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''Adderley v. Florida'', 385 U.S. 39 (1966), was a
United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
case regarding whether arrests for protesting in front of a jail were constitutional.


Background information

In 1966, a group of students from
Florida A&M University Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU), commonly known as Florida A&M, is a public historically black land-grant university in Tallahassee, Florida. Founded in 1887, It is the third largest historically black university in the Un ...
demonstrated against
racial segregation Racial segregation is the systematic separation of people into racial or other ethnic groups in daily life. Racial segregation can amount to the international crime of apartheid and a crime against humanity under the Statute of the Intern ...
, and were subsequently arrested. The day after, around 200 FAMU students gathered in front of the Leon County jail to protest their arrest. Petitioners, 32 students, were members of a group of about 200 who on a nonpublic jail driveway, which they blocked, and on adjacent county jail premises had, by singing, clapping, and dancing, demonstrated against their schoolmates' arrest and perhaps against segregation in the jail and elsewhere. The sheriff, the jail's custodian, advised them that they were trespassing on county property and would have to leave or be arrested. The 107 demonstrators refusing to depart were thereafter arrested and convicted under a Florida trespass statute for "trespass with a malicious and mischievous intent." Petitioners contend that their convictions, affirmed by the Florida Circuit Court and the District Court of Appeal, deprived them of their "rights of free speech, assembly, petition, due process of law and equal protection of the laws" under the Fourteenth Amendment.


Decision

The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the trespassing conviction in a 5–4 decision. The majority opinion, authored by Justice Black, argued that county jails were not public places and so it did not infringe on their right to assembly. The decision argued that states may protect their property and withhold its use from demonstrators for nondiscriminatory reasons such as protection from damage.


Dissenting opinion

Justice Douglas authored a
dissenting opinion A dissenting opinion (or dissent) is an opinion in a legal case in certain legal systems written by one or more judges expressing disagreement with the majority opinion of the court which gives rise to its judgment. Dissenting opinions are norm ...
in which Chief Justice Warren and Justices
Brennan Brennan may refer to: People * Brennan (surname) * Brennan (given name) * Bishop Brennan (disambiguation) Places * Brennan, Idlib, a village located in Sinjar Nahiyah in Maarrat al-Nu'man District, Idlib, Syria * Rabeeah Brennan, a village located ...
and Fortas concurred. Douglas argued that the protesters did not engage in or threaten violence or block the entrance of the jail. Public officials should not, according to this vision of the First Amendment, be given discretion to decide which public places can be used for the expression of ideas.385 U.S. at 49–57


See also

*
List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 385 This is a list of all the United States Supreme Court cases from volume 385 of the ''United States Reports The ''United States Reports'' () are the official record ( law reports) of the Supreme Court of the United States. They include rulings, ...
*
List of United States Supreme Court cases by the Warren Court This is a partial chronological list of cases decided by the United States Supreme Court during the Warren Court, the tenure of Chief Justice Earl Warren Earl Warren (March 19, 1891 – July 9, 1974) was an American attorney, politician, ...
*
Free speech zone Free speech zones (also known as First Amendment zones, free speech cages, and protest zones) are areas set aside in public places for the purpose of political protesting. The First Amendment to the United States Constitution states that "Congre ...
**''
Brown v. Louisiana ''Brown v. Louisiana'', 383 U.S. 131 (1966), was a United States Supreme Court case based on the First Amendment in the U.S. Constitution. It held that protesters have a First and Fourteenth Amendment right to engage in a peaceful sit-in at a pu ...
'' **''
Cox v. Louisiana ''Cox v. Louisiana'', 379 U.S. 536 (1965), is a United States Supreme Court case based on the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. It held that a state government cannot employ " breach of the peace" statutes against protesters engaging in p ...
'' **''
Edwards v. South Carolina ''Edwards v. South Carolina'', 372 U.S. 229 (1963), was a landmark decision of the US Supreme Court ruling that the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution forbade state government officials to force a crowd to disperse when the ...
''


References


External links

* * Case brief
Quimbee
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adderley V. Florida 1966 in United States case law Civil rights movement case law Freedom of assembly United States Free Speech Clause case law United States Supreme Court cases United States Supreme Court cases of the Warren Court Void for vagueness case law