Decision of The Court
Writing for a unanimous Court, Chief Justice Vinson cast this issue in the context of their previous cases examining the licensing system by which local bodies regulated the use of parks and public places. He stated the law:
"In those cases this Court condemned statutes and ordinances which required that permits be obtained from local officials as a prerequisite to the use of public places, on the grounds that a license requirement constituted a prior restraint on freedom of speech, press and religion, and, in the absence of narrowly drawn, reasonable and definite standards for the officials to follow, must be invalid."
Unlike some of the other decisions, this case was a "slam dunk" for the Court. "Indeed, rarely has any case been before this Court which shows so clearly an unwarranted discrimination in a refusal to issue such a license."
Read more about this topic: Niemotko V. Maryland
Famous quotes containing the words decision of, decision and/or court:
“The impulse to perfection cannot exist where the definition of perfection is the arbitrary decision of authority. That which is born in loneliness and from the heart cannot be defended against the judgment of a committee of sycophants. The volatile essences which make literature cannot survive the clichés of a long series of story conferences.”
—Raymond Chandler (1888–1959)
“The decision to feed the world
is the real decision. No revolution
has chosen it. For that choice requires
that women shall be free.”
—Adrienne Rich (b. 1929)
““But such as you and I do not seem old
Like men who live by habit. Every day
I ride with falcon to the river’s edge
Or carry the ringed mail upon my back,
Or court a woman; neither enemy,
Game-bird, nor woman does the same thing twice....””
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)