Giboney et al. v. Empire Storage & Ice Co. (336 U.S. 490)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided April 4, 1949 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 336 U.S. 490 · 69 S. Ct. 684
- Decided
- April 4, 1949
- Term
- October Term 1948
- Vote
- 9–0
- Majority author
- Justice Black
- Issue area
- First Amendment
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Mr. Justice Black delivered the opinion of the Court. This case here on appeal under 28 U. S. C. § 1257 raises questions concerning the constitutional power of a state to apply its anti-trade-restraint law to labor union activities, and to enjoin union members from peaceful picketing carried on as an essential and inseparable part of a course of conduct which is in violation of the state law. The picketing occurred in Kansas City, Missouri. The injunction was issued by a Missouri state court. The appellants are members and officers of the Ice and Coal Drivers and Handlers Local Union No. 953, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor. Its membership includes about 160 of 200 retail ice peddlers who drive their own trucks in selling ice from door to door in Kansas City. The union began efforts to induce all the nonunion peddlers to join. One objective of the organizational drive was to better wage and working conditions of peddlers and their helpers. Most of the nonunion peddlers refused to join the union. To break down their resistance the union adopted a plan which was designed to make it impossible for nonunion peddlers to buy ice to supply their retail customers in Kansas City. Pursuant to the plan the union set about to obtain from all Kansas City wholesale ice distributors agreements that they would not sell ice to nonunion peddlers. Agreements were obtained from…
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