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NEAR V. MINNESOTA EX REL. OLSON
Term: 1901­1939 1929
Case Basics
Location: The Saturday Press
Facts of the Case Jay Near published a scandal sheet in Minneapolis, in which he attacked local
officials, charging that they were implicated with gangsters. Minnesota officials
obtained an injunction to prevent Near from publishing his newspaper under a state
law that allowed such action against periodicals. The law provided that any person
"engaged in the business" of regularly publishing or circulating an "obscene, lewd,
and lascivious" or a "malicious, scandalous and defamatory" newspaper or periodical
was guilty of a nuisance, and could be enjoined (stopped) from further committing or
maintaining the nuisance.
Docket No. 91
Appellant Near
Appellee Minnesota ex rel. Olson
Heard By Taft Court (1925­1930)
Decided By Hughes Court (1930­1932)
Question Does the Minnesota "gag law" violate the free press provision of the First
Amendment?
Opinion 283 U.S. 697 (1931)
Conclusion Argued Thursday, January 30, 1930
Decision: 5 votes for Near, 4 vote(s) against
Legal provision: Chapter 285 of the Session Laws of Minnesota
The Supreme Court held that the statute authorizing the injunction was
unconstitutional as applied. History had shown that the protection against previous
restraints was at the heart of the First Amendment. The Court held that the statutory
scheme constituted a prior restraint and hence was invalid under the First
Amendment. Thus the Court established as a constitutional principle the doctrine
that, with some narrow exceptions, the government could not censor or otherwise
prohibit a publication in advance, even though the communication might be
punishable after publication in a criminal or other proceeding.
Decided Monday, June 1, 1931
Advocates
Weymouth Kirkland
(for the appellant)
James E. Markham
(Assistant Attorney General of
Minnesota, for the appellee)
Arthur L. Markve
(for the appellee)
Hughes
Holmes
Brandeis
Stone
Roberts Van DevanterMcReynolds Sutherland
Butler
Cite this Page
NEAR v. MINNESOTA EX REL. OLSON. The Oyez Project at IIT Chicago­Kent College of Law. 23
November 2014. <http://www.oyez.org/cases/1901­1939/1929/1929_91/>.
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