Schneider v. State (Town of Irvington)

Background

Four separate cases challenged municipal rules that restricted handing out printed material. In Los Angeles a man was convicted for distributing handbills on a public sidewalk about a meeting. In Milwaukee a picket handed out leaflets about a labor dispute and some recipients dropped them in the street. In Worcester protesters handed out leaflets about unemployment insurance and some papers were later found in the street. In Irvington, New Jersey, a woman identified as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses went door to door without applying for a required police permit and was convicted.

Reasoning

The Court considered whether these local rules unlawfully limited the freedom to speak and publish under the Fourteenth Amendment. The Justices explained that streets and sidewalks are traditional places for sharing information and that preventing litter alone does not justify a broad ban on handing literature to willing listeners. The Court said cities may punish people who actually throw papers or adopt narrow time or safety rules, but they cannot bar distribution in public streets or require police approval that functions as prior censorship. As applied, the Irvington permit scheme with fingerprinting, photographs, and police discretion was an unconstitutional gatekeeping system for ideas.

Real world impact

The Court reversed the convictions and returned the cases for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. The decision protects people who hand out political, labor, or religious pamphlets on sidewalks and in homes from blanket local bans and prior licensing. Municipalities remain able to address true nuisance conduct by other means.

Dissents or concurrances

One Justice would have upheld the convictions and affirmed the local ordinances.