Law School Case Briefs

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Gooding v. Wilson

Supreme Court of the United States (1972) | 31 L. Ed. 2d 408; 92 S. Ct. 1103; 405 U.S. 518; 1972 U.S. LEXIS 72

3 min read

TL;DR: The Supreme Court struck down a Georgia statute criminalizing “opprobrious words or abusive language” as unconstitutionally overbroad because it was not narrowly limited by state courts to punishing only “fighting words” that incite immediate violence.

Legal Significance: This case solidified the First Amendment overbreadth doctrine, establishing that statutes regulating speech must be narrowly drawn or authoritatively construed by state courts to apply only to unprotected categories like “fighting words,” lest they chill protected expression.

The life of the law has not been logic; it has been experience.

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