Police Department Of Chicago v. Mosley

408 U.S. 92 (1972)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Chicago (D) passed an ordinance that disallowed picketing in the time-period between one-half hour before school and one-half hour after school on school grounds (on a public way 150 feet from any school), unless the picketers were involved in labor disputes. Mosley (P) had been picketing the school peacefully and by himself prior to the ordinance. P was told after the new ordinance that he would be arrested. P stopped picketing and then brought suit to enjoin enforcement of the statute. P alleged a violation of constitutional rights in that (1) the statute punished activity protected by the First Amendment; and (2) by exempting only peaceful labor picketing from its general prohibition against picketing, the statute denied him 'equal protection of the law in violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments. . . .' P claimed that once an exception is made about the time and place of picketing, then other picketing can't be prohibited just because of content. The District Court granted a directed verdict dismissing the complaint. The Seventh Circuit reversed, holding that because the ordinance prohibited even peaceful picketing next to a school, it was overbroad, and therefore 'patently unconstitutional on its face.'