Los Angeles Police Department v. United Reporting Publishing Corp.
United States Supreme Court
528 U.S. 32 (1999)
- Written by Sean Carroll, JD
Facts
A California law required members of the public seeking access to an arrestee’s address to disclose the purpose of the request and to state that the requestor would not use the address to sell something. The law limited access to five delineated purposes: scholarly, journalistic, political, governmental, and investigation by a licensed investigator. There was no such restriction on the disclosure of arrestees’ names. United Reporting Publishing Co. (United) (plaintiff) catalogued names and addresses of arrestees to sell to attorneys, insurance companies, and other clients. The Los Angeles Police Department (defendant) denied United access to certain arrestee address information based on the law. United brought suit, alleging that the law violated the First Amendment. The district court ruled that the statute was facially invalid. The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed, employing the First Amendment’s overbreadth doctrine. The United States Supreme Court granted certiorari.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Rehnquist, C.J.)
Concurrence (Ginsburg, J.)
Dissent (Stevens, J.)
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