Cox v. New Hampshire
Cox v. New Hampshire is a significant legal case that examined the balance between government regulations on public assemblies and the First Amendment rights of individuals, particularly those from the Jehovah's Witness community. The case arose in Manchester, New Hampshire, where a city ordinance mandated that groups obtain a parade license and pay a fee to march in public. When members of the Jehovah's Witnesses marched without the required license, they were arrested, leading to a legal challenge asserting that the ordinance violated their rights to free exercise of religion and free speech. The Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision led by Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes, upheld the city's ordinance as a reasonable means of regulating traffic and ensuring public order. This case is part of a broader legal context in which the rights of individuals to assemble and express their beliefs are weighed against the government's interest in maintaining public safety. Cox v. New Hampshire is pivotal in defining the extent to which the government can impose regulations on public gatherings while still protecting constitutional rights.
Cox v. New Hampshire
Citation: 312 U.S. 569
Date: March 31, 1941
Issues:Freedom of assembly; time, place, and manner regulations
Relevant amendment: First
Significance: The Supreme Court’s decision protected the right of local government officials to place nondiscriminatory time, place, and manner restrictions on demonstrators.
Cox is part of a series of cases establishing the government’s right to place reasonable time, place, and manner regulations on assemblies as long as these laws do not prevent people from speaking out or favor some speakers over others. It is also one of a number of cases in which the Jehovah’s Witnesses challenged various laws as denials of their free exercise of religion. Although the Jehovah’s Witnesses were often successful, they did not prevail in Cox.
A Manchester, New Hampshire, city ordinance required groups to have a parade license and pay a fee. Some Jehovah’s Witnesses marched single file through city streets carrying placards to advertise a meeting but refused to get a license or pay the fee. Upon their arrest, their leader argued that they were not having a parade. Further, they also asserted that the Manchester ordinance was vague, unreasonable, and arbitrary and deprived them of their First Amendment rights as guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment. In its unanimous decision, the Court upheld the ordinance solely as a means of regulating traffic and reasonably providing for orderly, safe streets.