Watchtower Bible & Tract Society of New York, Inc. v. Village of Stratton
United States Supreme Court
536 U.S. 150 (2002)
- Written by Megan Petersen, JD
Facts
Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc. (WBTSNY) (plaintiff) coordinated the preaching activities of Jehovah’s Witnesses throughout the United States and published Bibles and religious periodicals that were widely distributed. Wellsville, Ohio, Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses, Inc. (plaintiff) supervised the activities of approximately fifty-nine members in a part of Ohio that included the Village of Stratton (defendant). These members often went door-to-door distributing religious literature at no cost to anyone who wished to read it. A Village ordinance, however, prohibited canvassers and others from “going in and upon private residential property for the purpose of promoting any “cause” without first having obtained a permit from the Village mayor. WBTSNY did not apply for a permit in the Village of Stratton, but rather challenged the ordinance in federal district court as facially invalid on First Amendment grounds. The district court upheld the ordinance as constitutional, and the court of appeals affirmed. The United States Supreme Court granted certiorari.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Stevens, J.)
Dissent (Rehnquist, C.J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 815,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.