''Bigelow v. Commonwealth of Virginia'', 421 U.S. 809 (1975), 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 that established

First Amendment First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

protection for advertising.

Background

Court precedents had long considered advertising mere " commercial speech," giving it little, if any, protection under the First Amendment. In 1972, the

American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...

filed a Supreme Court appeal on behalf of a newspaper editor in Charlottesville, Virginia who had published an advertisement for an abortion referral service in New York (where abortion was legal). Virginia charged the editor, Jeffrey C. Bigelow, with violating a state law that made it a crime to encourage

abortions Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pregnan ...

via lectures, advertisements, or any other manner.Greenhouse, Page 117 Bigelow was convicted and fined; the

Virginia Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Virginia is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It primarily hears direct appeals in civil cases from the trial-level city and county circuit courts, as well as the criminal law, family law and administrative ...

affirmed his conviction, rejecting his First Amendment challenge by pointing to the lowered protections on commercial advertisements. ''

Roe v. Wade ''Roe v. Wade'', 410 U.S. 113 (1973),. was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States conferred the right to have an abortion. The decision struck down many federal and st ...

'' was pending when Bigelow's appeal first reached the Supreme Court, leading the justices to defer action. After ''Roe'' was decided, the justices remanded ''Bigelow'' to Virginia, but the state court reaffirmed Bigelow's conviction; Bigelow filed a new appeal to the Supreme Court.

Opinion of the Court

The decision was announced June 16, 1975.Greenhouse, Page 119 Justices William Rehnquist and

Byron White Byron "Whizzer" Raymond White (June 8, 1917 April 15, 2002) was an American professional football player and jurist who served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1962 until his retirement in 1993. Born and raised in Color ...

cast the only votes to uphold the conviction. Justice Blackmun wrote the majority opinion, and was joined by Chief Justice

Warren E. Burger Warren Earl Burger (September 17, 1907 – June 25, 1995) was an American attorney and jurist who served as the 15th chief justice of the United States from 1969 to 1986. Born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Burger graduated from the William Mitchell ...

and Justices

Thurgood Marshall Thurgood Marshall (July 2, 1908 – January 24, 1993) was an American civil rights lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1967 until 1991. He was the Supreme Court's first African-A ...

Potter Stewart Potter Stewart (January 23, 1915 – December 7, 1985) was an American lawyer and judge who served as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1958 to 1981. During his tenure, he made major contributions to, among other areas, ...

, William Brennan,

William O. Douglas William Orville Douglas (October 16, 1898January 19, 1980) was an American jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, who was known for his strong progressive and civil libertarian views, and is often c ...

, and Lewis Powell. Justice

Harry Blackmun Harry Andrew Blackmun (November 12, 1908 – March 4, 1999) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1970 to 1994. Appointed by Republican President Richard Nixon, Blac ...

wrote that the First Amendment "should prevent states from prohibiting advertisements of products or conduct that is clearly legal at the place advertised." The Court also noted the political nature of abortion and its status as a constitutionally protected fundamental right.

Subsequent developments

''Bigelow'' was used as precedent in a case in the 1975 term of the Court. In '' Virginia State Board of Pharmacy v. Virginia Citizens Consumer Council'', Blackmun struck down a state law that prohibited pharmacists from advertising the prices of prescription drugs. Justice William Rehnquist was the only dissenter.Greenhouse, Page 120

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bigelow V. Commonwealth Of Virginia United States Supreme Court cases United States commercial speech case law 1975 in United States case law United States Supreme Court cases of the Burger Court Legal history of Virginia