Ward v. Rock Against Racism

Ward v. Rock Against Racism
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued February 27, 1989 Decided June 22, 1989
Full case name	Benjamin R. Ward, et al. v. Rock Against Racism
Citations	491 U.S. 781 (more) 109 S. Ct. 2746; 105 L. Ed. 2d 661; 1989 U.S. LEXIS 3129; 57 U.S.L.W. 4879
Case history
Prior	Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
Holding
A regulation of the time, place, or manner of protected speech must be narrowly tailored to serve the government's legitimate content-neutral interests but does not need to be the least restrictive or the least-intrusive means of doing so.
Court membership
Chief Justice William Rehnquist Associate Justices William J. Brennan Jr. · Byron White Thurgood Marshall · Harry Blackmun John P. Stevens · Sandra Day O'Connor Antonin Scalia · Anthony Kennedy
Case opinions
Majority	Kennedy, joined by Rehnquist, White, O'Connor, Scalia
Concurrence	Blackmun
Dissent	Marshall, joined by Brennan, Stevens

Ward v. Rock Against Racism, 491 U.S. 781 (1989), was a United States Supreme Court case.

In an opinion by Justice Kennedy, the Court rejected a First Amendment challenge to a New York City regulation that mandated the use of city-provided sound systems and technicians to control the volume of concerts in New York City's Central Park. The Court found that the city had a substantial interest in limiting excessive noise and the regulation was "content neutral." The court found that "narrow tailoring" would be satisfied if the regulation promoted a substantial government interest that would be achieved less effectively without the regulation.

Justices Marshall, Brennan, and Stevens dissented.

In his dissent, Marshall agreed with the majority that the government has a substantial interest in controlling noise but believed that it may not advance that interest by actually asserting control over the amplification equipment and thus over private expression itself. The government has an obligation to adopt the least intrusive restriction necessary to achieve its goals such as enforcing the noise ordinance that has already been adopted.

External links

• Text of Ward v. Rock Against Racism, 491 U.S. 781 (1989) is available from: CourtListener  Findlaw  Google Scholar  Justia  Library of Congress  Oyez (oral argument audio) 

This page was last edited on 13 September 2023, at 03:24