City of Lakewood v. Plain Dealer Publishing Co. (486 U.S. 750)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 17, 1988 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 486 U.S. 750 · 108 S. Ct. 2138
- Decided
- June 17, 1988
- Term
- October Term 1987
- Vote
- 4–3
- Majority author
- Justice Brennan
- Issue area
- First Amendment
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
- Constitutional ruling
- Local ordinance held unconstitutional
Opinion excerpt
Justice Brennan delivered the opinion of the Court. The city of Lakewood, a suburban community bordering Cleveland, Ohio, appeals a judgment of the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit enjoining enforcement of its local ordinance regulating the placement of newsracks. The court’s decision was based in part on its conclusion that the ordinance vests the mayor with unbridled discretion over which publishers may place newsracks on public property and where. I Prior to 1983, the city of Lakewood absolutely prohibited the private placement of any structure on public property. On the strength of that law, the city denied the Plain Dealer Publishing Company (Newspaper) permission to place its coin-operated newspaper dispensing devices on city sidewalks. In response, the Newspaper brought suit in the District Court for the Northern District of Ohio challenging the ordinance. The District Court adjudged the absolute prohibition unconstitutional, but delayed entering a permanent injunction to give the city time to amend its law. Although the city could have appealed the District Court’s judgment, it decided instead to adopt two ordinances permitting the placement of structures on city property under certain conditions. One of those ordinances specifically concerns newsracks. §901.181, Codified Ordinances, City of Lakewood (1984). That ordinance gives the mayor the authority to grant…
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