Case Citator › Thornhill v. Alabama

Thornhill v. Alabama

Is it still good law? What later courts have actually done to this case.

Criticized by some courts
Court
Supreme Court of the United States
Citation
310 U.S. 88
Decided
Confirmed treatments
1
Flagged citations read
59 of 59
Citing cases (total)
59
Treatment dates
1957
Criticized by some courts
At least one reviewed court has criticized this case’s reasoning. No reviewed court has overruled it. Thornhill v. Alabama was criticized by the Supreme Court. In International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 695 v. Vogt, Inc., the Court criticized its broad equation of peaceful picketing with protected speech while preserving its rule against blanket picketing bans.
More on how this was screened

All 59 flagged citations have been read; the confirmed criticism is listed below.

Every treatment on this page is written from the citing opinion itself, with a verbatim quote, never copied from a commercial citator. A citation flagged by our screen but not shown here was read and found not to weaken this case.

59 later cases cite Thornhill v. Alabama; 59 of those citations sat close to treatment language and were flagged for reading, and all of them have been read. Citations that did not sit near treatment language were not flagged and were not read one by one, so a court that weakened this case without using any of that language would not appear here.

Relying on Thornhill v. Alabama?

This page shows what later courts did to it. Ask about your specific facts and see whether it still carries your argument, with citations you can check.

Treatments

Criticized

  • The Court criticized Thornhill’s broad equation of peaceful picketing with protected speech and reaffirmed its rule against blanket picketing bans.

    International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 695 v. Vogt, Inc. · Supreme Court of the United States · filed

    Soon, however, the Court came to realize that the broad pronouncements, but not the specific holding, of Thorn-hill had to yield “to the impact of facts unforeseen,” or at least not sufficiently appreciated. ... These cases made manifest that picketing, even though “peaceful,” involved more than just communication of ideas and could not be immune from all state regulation. ... State courts, no *295more than state legislatures, can enact blanket prohibitions against picketing. Thornhill v. Alabama and A. F. of L. v. Swing, supra.
    Read the full opinion on CourtListener →

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