Find Court Cases > NAACP v. Button

NAACP v. Button

Case Date: 11/08/1961
Docket No: none

Facts of the Case 

The NAACP was prosecuted for violating a Virginia statute which banned "the improper solicitation of any legal or professional business."

Question 

Did the law, as applied to the NAACP's activities, violate the First and Fourteenth Amendments?

Argument NAACP v. Button - Oral ArgumentFull Transcript Text  Download MP3NAACP v. Button - Oral ReargumentFull Transcript Text  Download MP3 Conclusion  Decision: 6 votes for NAACP, 3 vote(s) against Legal provision: Amendment 1: Speech, Press, and Assembly

Yes. In a 6-3 decision, the Court held that the activities of the NAACP amounted to "modes of expression and association protected by the First and Fourteenth Amendments which Virginia may not prohibit." NAACP-initiated litigation was "a form of political expression" and not "a technique of resolving private differences," argued Justice William J. Brennan, Jr., who authored the majority opinion. Justice John Marshall Harlan dissented, joined by Justices Potter Stewart and Tom Clark.