View source for Terminiello v. Chicago

[[File:terminiello v chicago.jpg|right|150px]]
In '''Terminiello v. Chicago, 337 U.S. 1 (1949),''' the Supreme Court overturned on First Amendment grounds a disorderly conduct conviction against a suspended Catholic priest for making inflammatory public comments.

Illinois courts upheld the conviction, but a 5-4 majority of the Supreme Court reversed. In the majority opinion, Justice William O. Douglas focused not on the content of the priest’s speech, but on the legality of the Chicago ordinance. The Court ruled that by permitting conviction for speech that “stirred people to anger, invited public dispute, or brought about a condition of unrest,” the law '''“seriously invaded”''' the protection of speech afforded by the '''First Amendment.''' “A function of free speech,” Douglas wrote,“under our system of government '''is to invite dispute.” Speech “may indeed best serve its high purpose when it induces a condition of unrest, creates dissatisfaction with conditions as they are, or even stirs people to anger.”'''

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