''Kunz v. New York'', 340 U.S. 290 (1951), was a landmark

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 turn on question ...

case that held a requirement mandating a permit to speak on religious issues in public was unconstitutional. The case was argued on October 17, 1950, and decided on January 15, 1951, with an 8–1 decision. Chief Justice Vinson delivered the opinion for the Court. Justice Black and Justice Frankfurter concurred in the result only. Justice Jackson dissented. ''Kunz'' helped establish the principle that government restrictions on speech must be narrowly tailored to avoid improperly limiting expression protected by the

First Amendment First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

. In this case, the Court held that laws granting public officials broad discretion to restrain speech about religious issues in advance constitute an invalid

prior restraint Prior restraint (also referred to as prior censorship or pre-publication censorship) is censorship imposed, usually by a government or institution, on expression, that prohibits particular instances of expression. It is in contrast to censorship ...

, violating the First Amendment. The Court reversed the 1948 conviction of

Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

minister Carl J. Kunz, who was found guilty of violating a

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

ordinance Ordinance may refer to: Law * Ordinance (Belgium), a law adopted by the Brussels Parliament or the Common Community Commission * Ordinance (India), a temporary law promulgated by the President of India on recommendation of the Union Cabinet * Em ...

required a permit from the

police commissioner A police commissioner is the head of a police department, responsible for overseeing its operations and ensuring the effective enforcement of laws and maintenance of public order. They develop and implement policies, manage budgets, and coordinate ...

to hold religious services on public streets. Although the ordinance did not specify grounds for refusing permission, Kunz was denied permits in 1947 and 1948 after being accused of making “scurrilous attacks” on Catholics and Jews under a previous permit. He was subsequently arrested for speaking without a permit in

Columbus Circle Columbus Circle is a traffic circle and heavily trafficked intersection in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Manhattan, located at the intersection of Eighth Avenue (Manhattan), Eighth Avenue, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway, ...

. Kunz's conviction for violating the ordinance was upheld by the Appellate Part of the Court of Special Sessions and by the

New York Court of Appeals The New York Court of Appeals is the supreme court, highest court in the Judiciary of New York (state), Unified Court System of the New York (state), State of New York. It consists of seven judges: the Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeal ...

. However, the Supreme Court ultimately ruled that New York's ordinance was overly broad because it failed to provide any standards for administrators to determine who should receive permits to speak about religious issues. In his dissenting opinion, Justice Robert Jackson argued that Kunz had used “

fighting words Fighting words are spoken words intended to provoke a retaliatory act of violence against the speaker. In United States constitutional law, the term describes words that inflict injury or would tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace. ...

” that were not protected by the First Amendment (see unprotected speech). He also criticized the Court for striking down the permit scheme citing the recent case of ''

Feiner v. New York ''Feiner v. New York'', 340 U.S. 315 (1951), was a United States Supreme Court case involving Irving Feiner's arrest for a violation of section 722 of the New York Penal Code, " inciting a breach of the peace," as he addressed a crowd on a street ...

'' (1951), in which the Court had allowed local officials the discretion to arrest volatile speakers during their presentations.

External links

* * {{US1stAmendment Freedom of Speech Clause Supreme Court case law, state=collapsed United States Supreme Court cases United States Supreme Court cases of the Vinson Court United States Free Speech Clause case law United States Supreme Court cases in 1951 United States equal protection case law Baptist Christianity in New York (state) Columbus Circle Anti-Catholicism in the United States Antisemitism in New York City

See also

External links