Life Without Peaceful Protests
Life Without Fair Courts Editorial Cartoon Series by Mikhaela Reid
Edwards v. South Carolina, 372 U.S. 229 (1963).
Plaintiff: The state of South Carolina
Defendants: African American high school and college students
Issue: Can a state arrest protestors when they are neither disrupting the peace nor causing any other problems simply because they espouse “unpopular” views?
Case Summary
A group of African American high school and college students marched in single file and orderly pairs, carrying signs to the South Carolina State House in 1961 to peacefully protest discrimination against African Americans in the state. They stopped in an area open to the public and caused no disruptions. When police instructed them to disperse, the students began singing religious and patriotic songs. The police officers proceeded to arrest the students who were later charged and convicted for "breach of the peace." But the evidence showed only that they were peaceably expressing views that that the majority opposed.
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the case and overturned the convictions, stating that South Carolina had "infringed…[on the students'] constitutionally protected rights of free speech, free assembly and freedom to petition for redress of their grievances." The Court went on to say, "'Speech is often provocative and challenging. It may strike at prejudices and preconceptions and have profound unsettling effects as it presses for acceptance of an idea. That is why freedom of speech … is… protected against censorship or punishment, unless shown likely to produce clear and present danger of serious substantive evil that rises far above public inconvenience, annoyance or unrest.'"
