Carey v. Brown

447 U.S. 455 (1980)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Ds, all of whom are members of a civil rights organization entitled the Committee Against Racism, participated in a peaceful demonstration on the public sidewalk in front of the home of the Mayor of Chicago. They protested the failure to support the busing of schoolchildren to achieve racial integration. They were arrested and charged with unlawful residential picketing. The statute states: 'It is unlawful to picket before or about the residence or dwelling of any person, except when the residence or dwelling is used as a place of business. However, this Article does not apply to a person peacefully picketing his own residence or dwelling and does not prohibit the peaceful picketing of a place of employment involved in a labor dispute or the place of holding a meeting or assembly on premises commonly used to discuss subjects of general public interest.' Ds all pled guilty and then commenced this lawsuit seeking a declaratory judgment that the picketing statute is unconstitutional on its face and as applied, and an injunction prohibiting Ps -- various state, county, and city officials -- from enforcing the statute. The district court denied all relief. The Court of Appeals reversed. The court concluded that the Act's different treatment of labor and nonlabor picketing was not justified by the important state interest in protecting the peace and privacy of the home or by the special character of a residence that is also used as a 'place of employment.' It held that they violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Ps appealed and the Supreme Court granted certiorari.