POSC402 Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: William Rehnquist, Plurality Opinion, Jury Instructions
7 Oct 2018
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Joseph beauharnais, president of white circle league, inc. , was arrested on january 7, 1950 for distributing leaflets on chicago street corners. The leaflets called in part upon the mayor and aldermen of chicago "to halt the further encroachment, harassment and invasion of white people by the negro. " Illinois law making it illegal to distribute any publication that "exposes the citizens of any race, color, creed or religion to contempt, derision, or obloquy. " A jury found him guilty and he was fined . In a 5 4 opinion authored by justice felix frankfurter, the court concluded that. Beuharnais" speech amounted to libel and was therefore beyond constitutional protection. Several teenagers allegedly burned a crudely fashioned cross on a black family"s lawn. The police charged one of the teens under a local bias-motivated criminal ordinance which prohibits the display of a symbol which "arouses anger, alarm or resentment in others on the basis of race, color, creed, religion or gender. "
