Gooding v. Wilson

405 U.S. 518 (1972)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Wilson (D) was arrested during an antiwar demonstration for calling police officers a 'White son of a bitch' and threatening to kill them and choke them to death and or to cut them to pieces if they ever put hands on him again. D was convicted under a Georgia statute providing that 'any person who shall, without provocation, use to or of another, and in his presence . . . opprobrious words or abusive language, tending to cause a breach of the peace . . . shall be guilty of a misdemeanor,' which has not been narrowed by the Georgia courts to apply only to 'fighting' words 'which by their very utterance . . . tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace.' D defended against the charges contending that the statute was unconstitutionally vague and overbroad because it could be interpreted to apply to protected speech. D appealed the conviction to the Supreme Court of Georgia on the ground, among others, that the statute violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments because it was vague and overbroad. The Georgia Supreme Court rejected that contention and sustained the conviction. D petitioned for habeas corpus relief. The District Court, in disagreement with the Georgia Supreme Court, held that § 26-6303, on its face, was unconstitutionally vague and broad, and set aside D's conviction. The Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed.