Houston Community College System v. Wilson

2022 United States Supreme Court case

Houston Community College System v. Wilson
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued November 2, 2021 Decided March 24, 2022
Full case name	Houston Community College System v. David Buren Wilson
Docket no.	20-804
Citations	595 U.S. ___ (more) 142 S. Ct. 1253, 212 L. Ed. 2d 303
Case history
Prior	No. 18-CV-00744, 2019 WL 1317797 (S.D. Tex. Mar. 22, 2019)(dismissing complaint); 955 F.3d 490 (5th Cir. 2020)(reversing); 966 F.3d 341 (5th Cir. 2020)(denying rehearing en banc)
Holding
Mr. Wilson does not possess an actionable First Amendment claim arising from the Board's purely verbal censure.
Court membership
Chief Justice John Roberts Associate Justices Clarence Thomas · Stephen Breyer Samuel Alito · Sonia Sotomayor Elena Kagan · Neil Gorsuch Brett Kavanaugh · Amy Coney Barrett
Case opinion
Majority	Gorsuch, joined by unanimous
Laws applied
U.S. Const. amend. I

Houston Community College System v. Wilson, 595 U.S. ___ (2022), is a United States Supreme Court case involving the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. The unanimous Court held that a local government board member's freedom of speech was not abridged when he was verbally censured by his colleagues.

Background

David Buren Wilson was elected a member of the Houston Community College System's board in 2013 who was censured for repeated incidences of what other members of the Board of Trustees deemed to be behavior that was not becoming of an elected official or beneficial to the HCC system.^[1] Wilson filed suit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas claiming that the censure was an offense to his First Amendment rights.^[2]

In March 2019, U.S. District Judge Kenneth M. Hoyt dismissed Wilson's complaint, finding that no right was violated so no injury was suffered.^[3] In April 2020, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, reversed, with U.S. Circuit Judge W. Eugene Davis writing for the unanimous panel that Wilson had suffered "mental anguish" and criticizing the lower court for using out of circuit precedent.^[4] The Fifth Circuit then deadlocked 8-8 on whether to rehear en banc, with Circuit Judges Edith Jones and James C. Ho both writing dissents criticizing the panel for creating a circuit split.^[5]

Supreme Court

Certiorari was granted in the case on April 26, 2021.^[6] The Court heard oral arguments on November 2, 2021, where an assistant to the Solicitor General of the United States appeared as a friend of the community college.^[7]

On March 24, 2022, the Supreme Court announced judgment in favor of the community college, unanimously voting to reverse the circuit court.^[8] Writing for the Court, Justice Neil Gorsuch found that Wilson's First Amendment rights were not violated by his fellow board members' censure of him because the censure did not result in any hindrance of his ability to exercise his free speech in his capacity as an elected official and member of the public. The opinion cites the fact that the use of censure by elected bodies to address the behavior and actions of their members is a practice with a long history in the United States, and it also states that the censure itself constitutes an exercise of First Amendment rights by Wilson's colleagues on the board who voted to reprimand him.^[9]

References

^ Liptak, Adam (August 31, 2021). "Are Censures of Politicians a Form of Free Speech or a Threat to It?". The New York Times. p. A11.
^ Note, Recent Case: Fifth Circuit Creates Circuit Split by Finding a Legislature’s Censure Can Violate the First Amendment, 134 Harv. L. Rev. 2638 (2021).
^ Wilson v. Hous. Cmty. Coll. Sys., No. 18-CV-00744, 2019 WL 1317797, at *3–4 (S.D. Tex. Mar. 22, 2019)
^ Wilson v. Houston Community College System, 955 F.3d 490 (5th Cir. 2020).
^ Wilson v. Houston Community College System, 966 F.3d 341 (5th Cir. 2020).
^ Howe, Amy (April 26, 2021). "Justices add new cases on state secrets, free speech". SCOTUSblog. Retrieved July 5, 2021.
^ Liptak, Adam (November 3, 2021). "Supreme Court Hears Free Speech Case on Politician's Censure". The New York Times. p. A15. Retrieved October 29, 2023.
^ Liptak, Adam (March 25, 2022). "Censure of Politician Did Not Violate First Amendment, Supreme Court Rules". The New York Times. p. A16. Retrieved October 29, 2023.
^ Gorsuch, Neil (March 24, 2022). "Houston Community College System, Petitioner v. David Buren Wilson" (PDF). Retrieved March 24, 2022.

External links

Text of Houston Community College System v. Wilson, No. 20-804, 595 U.S. ___ (2022) is available from: Cornell Google Scholar Justia Oyez (oral argument audio) Supreme Court (slip opinion)
Case page at SCOTUSblog
Case preview from Cornell's Legal Information Institute

United States First Amendment case law

Establishment Clause

Public displays and ceremonies	Marsh v. Chambers (1983) Lynch v. Donnelly (1984) Board of Trustees of Scarsdale v. McCreary (1985) County of Allegheny v. American Civil Liberties Union (1989) Van Orden v. Perry (2005) McCreary County v. American Civil Liberties Union (2005) Pleasant Grove City v. Summum (2009) Salazar v. Buono (2010) Town of Greece v. Galloway (2014) American Legion v. American Humanist Association (2019)
Statutory religious exemptions	Walz v. Tax Comm'n of the City of New York (1970) California v. Grace Brethren Church (1982) Bob Jones University v. United States (1983) Estate of Thornton v. Caldor, Inc. (1985) Corp. of Presiding Bishop v. Amos (1987) Texas Monthly, Inc. v. Bullock (1989) City of Boerne v. Flores (1997) Cutter v. Wilkinson (2005)
Public funding	Cochran v. Board of Education (1930) Everson v. Board of Education (1947) Flast v. Cohen (1968) Board of Ed. of Central School Dist. No. 1 v. Allen (1968) Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971) Tilton v. Richardson (1971) Lemon v. Kurtzman II (1973) Levitt v. Committee for Public Education and Religious Liberty (1973) Hunt v. McNair (1973) Committee for Public Education v. Nyquist (1973) Sloan v. Lemon (1973) Wheeler v. Barrera (1974) Public Funds for Public Schools v. Marburger (1974) Meek v. Pittenger (1975) Roemer v. Board of Public Works of Maryland (1976) Wolman v. Walter (1977) New York v. Cathedral Academy (1977) Committee for Public Education and Religious Liberty v. Regan (1980) Valley Forge Christian College v. Americans United for Separation of Church & State (1982) Mueller v. Allen (1983) School Dist. of Grand Rapids v. Ball (1985) Aguilar v. Felton (1985) Witters v. Washington Department of Services for the Blind (1986) Zobrest v. Catalina Foothills School District (1993) Board of Ed. of Kiryas Joel Village School Dist. v. Grumet (1994) Agostini v. Felton (1997) Mitchell v. Helms (2000) Zelman v. Simmons-Harris (2002) Arizona Christian Sch. Tuition Org. v. Winn (2011) Trinity Lutheran Church v. Comer (2017) Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue (2020) Carson v. Makin (2022)
Religion in public schools	McCollum v. Board of Education (1948) Zorach v. Clauson (1952) Engel v. Vitale (1962) Abington School District v. Schempp (1963) Epperson v. Arkansas (1968) Stone v. Graham (1980) Wallace v. Jaffree (1985) Edwards v. Aguillard (1987) Westside Community Board of Ed. v. Mergens (1990) Lee v. Weisman (1992) Santa Fe Ind. School Dist. v. Doe (2000) Elk Grove Unif. School Dist. v. Newdow (2004) Kennedy v. Bremerton School Dist. (2022)
Private religious speech	Lamb's Chapel v. Center Moriches Union Free School Dist. (1993) Capitol Square Review & Advisory Board v. Pinette (1995) Rosenberger v. Univ. of Virginia (1995) Good News Club v. Milford Central School (2001) Shurtleff v. City of Boston (2022) Kennedy v. Bremerton School Dist. (2022)
Internal church affairs	Watson v. Jones (1872) Gonzalez v. Roman Catholic Archbishop of Manila (1929) United States v. Ballard (1944) Kedroff v. St. Nicholas Cathedral (1952) Kreshik v. St. Nicholas Cathedral (1960) Presbyterian Church v. Hull Church (1969) Serbian Eastern Orthodox Diocese v. Milivojevich (1976) Jones v. Wolf (1979) Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Juan v. Acevedo Feliciano (2020)
Taxpayer standing	Flast v. Cohen (1968) Valley Forge Christian College v. Americans United for Separation of Church & State (1982) Hein v. Freedom From Religion Foundation (2007) Arizona Christian Sch. Tuition Org. v. Winn (2011)
Blue laws	McGowan v. Maryland (1961) Two Guys from Harrison-Allentown, Inc. v. McGinley (1961) Braunfeld v. Brown (1961) Estate of Thornton v. Caldor, Inc. (1985)
Other	Torcaso v. Watkins (1961) McDaniel v. Paty (1978) Harris v. McRae (1980) Larkin v. Grendel's Den, Inc. (1982) Larson v. Valente (1982) Bowen v. Kendrick (1988) Swaggart Ministries v. Board of Equalization (1989) Board of Ed. of Kiryas Joel Village School Dist. v. Grumet (1994) Trump v. Hawaii (2018)

Free Exercise Clause

Reynolds v. United States (1879)
Davis v. Beason (1890)
Cantwell v. Connecticut (1940)
Minersville School District v. Gobitis (1940)
Jamison v. Texas (1943)
Murdock v. Pennsylvania (1943)
United States v. Ballard (1944)
Tucker v. Texas (1946)
Niemotko v. Maryland (1951)
Kunz v. New York (1951)
Fowler v. Rhode Island (1953)
Braunfeld v. Brown (1961)
Gallagher v. Crown Kosher Super Market of Massachusetts, Inc. (1961)
Torcaso v. Watkins (1961)
Sherbert v. Verner (1963)
Cruz v. Beto (1972)
Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972)
McDaniel v. Paty (1978)
Heffron v. International Society for Krishna Consciousness, Inc. (1981)
Thomas v. Review Board (1981)
United States v. Lee (1982)
Bob Jones University v. United States (1983)
Bowen v. Roy (1986)
Goldman v. Weinberger (1986)
O'Lone v. Estate of Shabazz (1987)
Frazee v. Illinois Department of Employment Security (1989)
Swaggart Ministries v. Board of Equalization (1989)
Employment Division v. Smith (1990)
Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah (1993)
Watchtower Society v. Village of Stratton (2002)
Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission (2018)
Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn v. Cuomo (2020)
Tandon v. Newsom (2021)
Fulton v. City of Philadelphia (2021)
Kennedy v. Bremerton School Dist. (2022)

Exclusion of religion
from public benefits

Locke v. Davey (2004)
Trinity Lutheran Church v. Comer (2017)
Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue (2020)
Carson v. Makin (2022)

Ministerial exception

NLRB v. Catholic Bishop of Chicago (1979)
Hosanna-Tabor v. EEOC (2012)
Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru (2020)

Statutory religious exemptions

RFRA	Gonzales v. O Centro Espírita Beneficente União do Vegetal (2006) Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. (2014) Zubik v. Burwell (2016) Little Sisters of the Poor Saints Peter and Paul Home v. Pennsylvania (2020) Tanzin v. Tanvir (2020)
RLUIPA	Sossamon v. Texas (2011) Holt v. Hobbs (2015) Ramirez v. Collier (2022)

Freedom of speech (portal)

Unprotected
speech

Incitement and sedition	Alien and Sedition Acts (1798) Masses Publishing Co. v. Patten (S.D.N.Y. 1917) Schenck v. United States (1919) Debs v. United States (1919) Abrams v. United States (1919) Gitlow v. New York (1925) Whitney v. California (1927) Fiske v. Kansas (1927) Dennis v. United States (1951) Communist Party v. Subversive Activities Control Bd. (1955; 1961) Yates v. United States (1957, clear and present danger) Bond v. Floyd (1966) Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969, imminent lawless action) Hess v. Indiana (1973)
Libel and false speech	New York Times Co. v. Sullivan (1964) Hustler Magazine v. Falwell (1988) United States v. Alvarez (2012) Susan B. Anthony List v. Driehaus (2014)
Fighting words and the heckler's veto	Cantwell v. Connecticut (1940) Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire (1942) Terminiello v. City of Chicago (1949) Feiner v. New York (1951) Gregory v. City of Chicago (1969) Cohen v. California (1971) Nat'l Socialist Party v. Village of Skokie (1977) R.A.V. v. City of St. Paul (1992) Snyder v. Phelps (2011)
True threats	Watts v. United States (1969) Virginia v. Black (2003) Elonis v. United States (2015) Counterman v. Colorado (2023)
Obscenity	Rosen v. United States (1896) United States v. One Book Called Ulysses (S.D.N.Y. 1933) Roth v. United States (1957) One, Inc. v. Olesen (1958) Smith v. California (1959) Marcus v. Search Warrant (1961) MANual Enterprises, Inc. v. Day (1962) Jacobellis v. Ohio (1964) Quantity of Books v. Kansas (1964) Ginzburg v. United States (1966) Memoirs v. Massachusetts (1966) Redrup v. New York (1967) Ginsberg v. New York (1968) Stanley v. Georgia (1969) United States v. Thirty-seven Photographs (1971) Kois v. Wisconsin (1972) Miller v. California (1973) Paris Adult Theatre I v. Slaton (1973) United States v. 12 200-ft. Reels of Film (1973) Jenkins v. Georgia (1974) Southeastern Promotions, Ltd. v. Conrad (1975) Erznoznik v. City of Jacksonville (1975) Young v. American Mini Theatres, Inc. (1976) Vance v. Universal Amusement Co., Inc. (1980) American Booksellers Ass'n, Inc. v. Hudnut (7th Cir. 1985) People v. Freeman (Cal. 1988) United States v. X-Citement Video, Inc. (1994) Reno v. ACLU (1997) United States v. Playboy Entertainment Group, Inc. (2000) City of Los Angeles v. Alameda Books, Inc. (2002) Ashcroft v. ACLU I (2002) United States v. American Library Ass'n (2003) Ashcroft v. ACLU II (2004) Nitke v. Gonzales (S.D.N.Y. 2005) United States v. Williams (2008) American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression v. Strickland (6th Cir. 2009) United States v. Kilbride (9th Cir. 2009) United States v. Stevens (2010) Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Ass'n (2011) FCC v. Fox Television Stations, Inc. (2012)
Speech integral to criminal conduct	New York v. Ferber (1982) Osborne v. Ohio (1990) Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition (2002) United States v. Hansen (2023)

Strict scrutiny

Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project (2010)
Williams-Yulee v. Florida Bar (2015)

Vagueness

Smith v. Goguen (1974)
Board of Airport Commissioners v. Jews for Jesus (1987)
Minnesota Voters Alliance v. Mansky (2018)

Symbolic speech
versus conduct

Stromberg v. California (1931)
United States v. O'Brien (1968)
Cohen v. California (1971)
Spence v. Washington (1974)
Clark v. Community for Creative Non-Violence (1984)
Dallas v. Stanglin (1989)
Texas v. Johnson (1989)
United States v. Eichman (1990)
Barnes v. Glen Theatre (1991)
City of Erie v. Pap's A. M. (2000)
Virginia v. Black (2003)

Content-based
restrictions

Lamont v. Postmaster General (1965)
Metromedia, Inc. v. San Diego (1981)
Boos v. Barry (1988)
Butterworth v. Smith (1990)
Simon & Schuster, Inc. v. Crime Victims Board (1991)
R.A.V. v. City of St. Paul (1992)
Reed v. Town of Gilbert (2015)
Barr v. American Association of Political Consultants (2020)
City of Austin v. Reagan National Advertising of Austin, LLC (2022)

Content-neutral
restrictions

Schneider v. New Jersey (1939)
Renton v. Playtime Theatres, Inc. (1986)
City of Ladue v. Gilleo (1994)
Packingham v. North Carolina (2017)

In the public forum	Davis v. Massachusetts (1897) Hague v. CIO (1939) Thornhill v. Alabama (1940) Martin v. City of Struthers (1943) Niemotko v. Maryland (1951) Edwards v. South Carolina (1963) Cox v. Louisiana (1965) Brown v. Louisiana (1966) Adderley v. Florida (1966) Carroll v. Town of Princess Anne (1968) Coates v. City of Cincinnati (1971) Org. for a Better Austin v. Keefe (1971) USPS v. Council of Greenburgh Civic Assns. (1981) United States v. Grace (1983) Clark v. Community for Creative Non-Violence (1984) Frisby v. Schultz (1988) Ward v. Rock Against Racism (1989) Burson v. Freeman (1992) Madsen v. Women's Health Center, Inc. (1994) Schenck v. Pro-Choice Network of Western New York (1997) Hill v. Colorado (2000) McCullen v. Coakley (2014)
Designated public forum	Widmar v. Vincent (1981) Rosenberger v. Univ. of Virginia (1995) Uzuegbunam v. Preczewski (2021)
Nonpublic forum	Lehman v. Shaker Heights (1974) Brown v. Glines (1980) Perry Education Association v. Perry Local Educators' Association (1983) Cornelius v. NAACP Legal Defense Fund (1985) International Society for Krishna Consciousness, Inc. v. Lee (1992) Arkansas Educational Television Commission v. Forbes (1997) Minnesota Voters Alliance v. Mansky (2018)

Compelled speech

Minersville School District v. Gobitis (1940)
West Virginia State Board of Ed. v. Barnette (1943)
Miami Herald Publishing Co. v. Tornillo (1974)
Wooley v. Maynard (1977)
Pruneyard Shopping Center v. Robins (1980)
Pacific Gas & Electric Co. v. Public Utilities Comm'n of California (1986)
Hurley v. Irish-American Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Group of Boston (1995)
Rumsfeld v. Forum for Academic & Institutional Rights, Inc. (2006)
National Institute of Family and Life Advocates v. Becerra (2018)
303 Creative LLC v. Elenis (2023)
Moody v. NetChoice, LLC (2024)

Compelled subsidy
of others' speech

Ry. Emps. Department v. Hanson (1956)
Machinists v. Street (1961)
Abood v. Detroit Board of Education (1977)
Ellis v. Railway Clerks (1984)
Chicago Local Teachers Union v. Hudson (1986)
Communications Workers of America v. Beck (1988)
Keller v. State Bar of California (1990)
Lehnert v. Ferris Faculty Ass'n (1991)
Glickman v. Wileman Brothers & Elliot, Inc. (1997)
Board of Regents of the Univ. of Wisconsin System v. Southworth (2000)
United States v. United Foods Inc. (2001)
Johanns v. Livestock Marketing Ass'n (2005)
Davenport v. Washington Education Ass'n (2007)
Locke v. Karass (2008)
Ysursa v. Pocatello Education Association (2009)
Knox v. SEIU, Local 1000 (2012)
Harris v. Quinn (2014)
Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association (2016)
Janus v. AFSCME (2018)

Compelled representation	Steele v. Louisville & N.R. Co (1944) Minnesota Board for Community Colleges v. Knight (1984)

Government grants
and subsidies

Regan v. Taxation with Representation of Washington (1983)
Rust v. Sullivan (1991)
National Endowment for the Arts v. Finley (1998)
Legal Services Corp. v. Velazquez (2001)
USAID v. Alliance for Open Society I (2013)
USAID v. Alliance for Open Society II (2020)

Government
as speaker

Pleasant Grove City v. Summum (2009)
Walker v. Texas Div., Sons of Confederate Veterans (2015)
Matal v. Tam (2017)
Iancu v. Brunetti (2019)
Houston Community College System v. Wilson (2022)
Shurtleff v. City of Boston (2022)
Vidal v. Elster (2024)

Loyalty oaths

American Communications Ass'n v. Douds (1950)
Garner v. Board of Public Works (1951)
Speiser v. Randall (1958)
Keyishian v. Board of Regents (1967)
Communist Party of Indiana v. Whitcomb (1974)

School speech

Minersville School District v. Gobitis (1940)
West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette (1943)
Tinker v. Des Moines Ind. Community School Dist. (1969, substantial disruption)
Healy v. James (1972)
Island Trees School District v. Pico (1982)
Bethel School District v. Fraser (1986)
Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier (1988)
Westside Community Board of Ed. v. Mergens (1990)
Rosenberger v. Univ. of Virginia (1995)
Brentwood Academy v. Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Assn. (2001)
Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Assn. v. Brentwood Academy (2007)
Morse v. Frederick (2007)
Uzuegbunam v. Preczewski (2021)
Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L. (2021)

Public employees

Pickering v. Board of Education (1968)
Perry v. Sindermann (1972)
Arnett v. Kennedy (1974)
Elrod v. Burns (1976)
Mt. Healthy City School Dist. Board of Ed. v. Doyle (1977)
Givhan v. Western Line Consol. School Dist. (1979)
Smith v. Arkansas State Hwy. Employees Local (1979)
Connick v. Myers (1983)
Rankin v. McPherson (1987)
Rutan v. Republican Party of Illinois (1990)
Waters v. Churchill (1994)
Board of Comm'rs, Wabaunsee Cty. v. Umbehr (1996)
Brentwood Academy v. Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Assn. (2001)
Garcetti v. Ceballos (2006)
Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Assn. v. Brentwood Academy (2007)
Borough of Duryea v. Guarnieri (2011)
Lane v. Franks (2014)
Heffernan v. City of Paterson (2016)
Kennedy v. Bremerton School Dist. (2022)

Hatch Act and
similar laws

Ex parte Curtis (1882)
United Public Workers v. Mitchell (1947)
U.S. Civil Service Comm'n v. National Ass'n of Letter Carriers (1973)
Broadrick v. Oklahoma (1973)

Licensing and
restriction of speech

Mutual Film Corp. v. Industrial Comm'n of Ohio (1915)
Cox v. New Hampshire (1941)
Murdock v. Pennsylvania (1943)
Kunz v. New York (1951)
Joseph Burstyn, Inc. v. Wilson (1952)
Kingsley Books, Inc. v. Brown (1957)
NAACP v. Button (1963)
Railroad Trainmen v. Virginia Bar (1964)
Freedman v. Maryland (1965)
Mine Workers v. Illinois Bar Assn. (1967)
Heffron v. International Society for Krishna Consciousness, Inc. (1981)
Hoffman Estates v. The Flipside, Hoffman Estates, Inc. (1982)
Riley v. Nat'l Fed'n of the Blind (1988)
Forsyth County v. Nationalist Movement (1992)

Commercial speech

Valentine v. Chrestensen (1942)
Rowan v. U.S. Post Office Dept. (1970)
Pittsburgh Press Co. v. Pittsburgh Comm'n on Human Relations (1973)
Lehman v. Shaker Heights (1974)
Goldfarb v. Virginia State Bar (1975)
Bigelow v. Virginia (1975)
Virginia State Pharmacy Bd. v. Virginia Citizens Consumer Council (1976)
Linmark Assoc., Inc. v. Township of Willingboro (1977)
Carey v. Population Services International (1977)
Bates v. State Bar of Arizona (1977)
In re Primus (1978)
Ohralik v. Ohio State Bar Association (1978)
Friedman v. Rogers (1979)
Consol. Edison Co. v. Public Serv. Comm'n (1980)
Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corp. v. Public Service Commission (1980)
Metromedia, Inc. v. San Diego (1981)
In re R.M.J. (1982)
Hoffman Estates v. The Flipside, Hoffman Estates, Inc. (1982)
Zauderer v. Off. of Disciplinary Counsel of Supreme Court of Ohio (1985)
Pacific Gas & Electric Co. v. Public Utilities Comm'n of California (1986)
Posadas de Puerto Rico Assoc. v. Tourism Co. of Puerto Rico (1986)
San Francisco Arts & Athletics, Inc. v. U.S. Olympic Committee (1987)
Shapero v. Kentucky Bar Association (1988)
Riley v. Nat'l Fed'n of the Blind (1988)
State University of New York v. Fox (1989)
Peel v. Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission of Illinois (1990)
City of Cincinnati v. Discovery Network (1993)
Edenfield v. Fane (1993)
United States v. Edge Broadcasting Co. (1993)
Ibanez v. Florida Dept. of Business and Professional Regulation, Bd. of Accountancy (1994)
Lebron v. National Railroad Passenger Corp. (1995)
Rubin v. Coors Brewing Co. (1995)
Florida Bar v. Went For It, Inc. (1995)
44 Liquormart, Inc. v. Rhode Island (1996)
Glickman v. Wileman Brothers & Elliot, Inc. (1997)
Greater New Orleans Broadcasting Assn., Inc. v. United States (1999)
Los Angeles Police Department v. United Reporting Publishing Co. (1999)
United States v. United Foods Inc. (2001)
Lorillard Tobacco Co. v. Reilly (2001)
Thompson v. Western States Medical Center (2002)
Nike, Inc. v. Kasky (2003)
Johanns v. Livestock Marketing Ass'n (2005)
Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Assn. v. Brentwood Academy (2007)
Milavetz, Gallop & Milavetz, P.A. v. United States (2010)
Jerman v. Carlisle, McNellie, Rini, Kramer & Ulrich LPA (2010)
Sorrell v. IMS Health Inc. (2011)
Expressions Hair Design v. Schneiderman (2017)
Matal v. Tam (2017)
Iancu v. Brunetti (2019)
Barr v. American Association of Political Consultants (2020)
Vidal v. Elster (2024)

Campaign finance
and political speech

Buckley v. Valeo (1976)
First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti (1978)
California Medical Association v. FEC (1981)
Citizens Against Rent Control v. City of Berkeley (1981)
FEC v. National Right to Work Committee (1982)
FEC v. National Conservative PAC (1985)
FEC v. Massachusetts Citizens for Life (1986)
Eu v. S.F. Cty. Democratic Cent. Comm. (1989)
Austin v. Michigan Chamber of Commerce (1990)
Colorado Republican Federal Campaign Committee v. FEC (1996)
Nixon v. Shrink Missouri Government PAC (2000)
FEC v. Colorado Republican Federal Campaign Committee (2001)
Republican Party of Minnesota v. White (2002)
FEC v. Beaumont (2003)
McConnell v. FEC (2003)
Wisconsin Right to Life, Inc. v. FEC (2006)
Randall v. Sorrell (2006)
FEC v. Wisconsin Right to Life, Inc. (2007)
Davis v. FEC (2008)
Citizens United v. FEC (2010)
Nevada Commission on Ethics v. Carrigan (2011)
Arizona Free Enterprise Club's Freedom Club PAC v. Bennett (2011)
American Tradition Partnership, Inc. v. Bullock (2012)
McCutcheon v. FEC (2014)
Williams-Yulee v. Florida Bar (2015)
Thompson v. Hebdon (2019)
FEC v. Ted Cruz for Senate (2022)

Anonymous speech

NAACP v. Alabama (1958)
Bates v. City of Little Rock (1960)
Buckley v. Valeo (1976)
Brown v. Socialist Workers '74 Campaign Committee (1982)
McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Comm'n (1995)
Doe v. Reed (2010)
Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Bonta (2021)

State action

Marsh v. Alabama (1946)
Lloyd Corp. v. Tanner (1972)
Manhattan Community Access Corp. v. Halleck (2019)
Lindke v. Freed (2024)
Murthy v. Missouri (2024)

Official retaliation

Hartman v. Moore (2006)
Reichle v. Howards (2012)
Wood v. Moss (2014)
Lozman v. City of Riviera Beach (2018)
Nieves v. Bartlett (2019)
Egbert v. Boule (2022)
Gonzalez v. Trevino (2024)
National Rifle Association of America v. Vullo (2024)

Boycotts

NAACP v. Claiborne Hardware Co. (1982)
FTC v. Superior Ct. TLA (1990)

Prisons

Procunier v. Martinez (1974)
Jones v. North Carolina Prisoners' Union (1977)
Turner v. Safley (1987)
Shaw v. Murphy (2001)
Overton v. Bazzetta (2003)
Beard v. Banks (2006)

Freedom of the press

Prior restraints and censorship	Patterson v. Colorado (1907) Near v. Minnesota (1931) Lovell v. City of Griffin (1938) Tucker v. Texas (1946) Hannegan v. Esquire, Inc. (1946) Lamont v. Postmaster General (1965) New York Times Co. v. United States (1971) Pell v. Procunier (1974) Nebraska Press Ass'n v. Stuart (1976) Landmark Communications, Inc. v. Virginia (1978) Lowe v. SEC (1985) Tory v. Cochran (2005)
Privacy	Time, Inc. v. Hill (1967) Cox Broadcasting Corp. v. Cohn (1975) Florida Star v. B. J. F. (1989)
Taxation and privileges	Grosjean v. American Press Co. (1936) Branzburg v. Hayes (1972) Houchins v. KQED, Inc. (1978) Minneapolis Star Tribune Co. v. Commissioner (1983) Arkansas Writers' Project v. Ragland (1987) Cohen v. Cowles Media Co. (1991)
Defamation	Beauharnais v. Illinois (1952) New York Times Co. v. Sullivan (1964) Curtis Publishing Co. v. Butts (1967) Greenbelt Cooperative Publishing Ass'n, Inc. v. Bresler (1970) Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc. (1974) Time, Inc. v. Firestone (1976) Bose Corp. v. Consumers Union of United States, Inc. (1984) Dun & Bradstreet, Inc. v. Greenmoss Builders, Inc. (1985) McDonald v. Smith (1985) Hustler Magazine v. Falwell (1988) Harte-Hanks Communications, Inc. v. Connaughton (1989) Milkovich v. Lorain Journal Co. (1990) Obsidian Finance Group, LLC v. Cox (9th Cir. 2014)
Broadcast media	Red Lion Broadcasting Co. v. FCC (1969) FCC v. Pacifica Foundation (1978) FCC v. WNCN Listeners Guild (1981) Denver Area Ed. Telecommunications Consortium, Inc. v. FCC (1996) Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. v. FCC (1997) Bartnicki v. Vopper (2001)
Copyrighted materials	Zacchini v. Scripps-Howard Broadcasting Co. (1977) Harper & Row v. Nation Enterprises (1985) Eldred v. Ashcroft (2003)

Freedom of assembly

Incorporation	United States v. Cruikshank (1876) Presser v. Illinois (1886)
Protection from prosecution and state restrictions	De Jonge v. Oregon (1937) Thomas v. Collins (1945) Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Bonta (2021)

Freedom of association

Organizations	Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee v. McGrath (1951) Watkins v. United States (1957) NAACP v. Alabama (1958) Bates v. City of Little Rock (1960) NAACP v. Button (1963) Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Bonta (2021)
Future Conduct	Baggett v. Bullitt (1964)
Solicitation	In re Primus (1978)
Membership restriction	Hishon v. King & Spalding (1984) Roberts v. United States Jaycees (1984) Rotary Int'l v. Rotary Club of Duarte (1987) New York Club Ass'n v. City of New York (1988) Dallas v. Stanglin (1989) Hurley v. Irish-American Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Group of Boston (1995) Boy Scouts of America v. Dale (2000) Christian Legal Society v. Martinez (2010)
Primaries and elections	Cousins v. Wigoda (1975) Democratic Party v. Wisconsin (1981) Tashjian v. Republican Party (1986) Timmons v. Twin Cities Area New Party (1997) California Democratic Party v. Jones (2000) Clingman v. Beaver (2005) New York State Board of Elections v. Lopez Torres (2008) Washington State Grange v. Washington State Republican Party (2008)

Freedom to petition
United States v. Cruikshank (1876) Thomas v. Collins (1945) Eastern Railroad Presidents Conference v. Noerr Motor Freight, Inc. (1961) NAACP v. Button (1963) Edwards v. South Carolina (1963) United Mine Workers v. Pennington (1965) Cox v. Louisiana (1965) California Motor Transport Co. v. Trucking Unlimited (1972) Smith v. Arkansas State Highway Employees (1979) McDonald v. Smith (1985) Meyer v. Grant (1988) Buckley v. American Constitutional Law Foundation (1999) BE and K Construction Co. v. National Labor Relations Board (2002) Doe v. Reed (2010) Borough of Duryea v. Guarnieri (2011)

Freedom to petition