Feiner v. New York
Encyclopedia
Feiner v. New York, 340 US 315 (1951) was a United States Supreme Court
case involving Irving Feiner's arrest for a violation of section 722 of the New York Penal Code, "inciting a breach of the peace," as he addressed a crowd on a street.
at the corner of South McBride and Harrison Streets in Syracuse, New York
. Feiner, a college student, had been standing on a large wooden box on the sidewalk, addressing a crowd through a loud-speaker system attached to an automobile. He made derogatory remarks about President Harry S. Truman
, the American Legion
, the Mayor of Syracuse and other local political officials. Chief Justice Vinson said that Feiner "gave the impression that he was endeavoring to arouse the Negro people against the whites, urging that they rise up in arms and fight for equal rights." The crowd, which blocked the sidewalk and overflowed into the street in which there was oncoming traffic, became restless, with some in the crowd voicing both opposition and support for Feiner. An onlooker threatened violence if the police did not act. After having observed the situation for some time without interference, police officers, in order to prevent a fight, requested the petitioner to get off the box and stop speaking. After his third refusal, they arrested him, and he was convicted of violating 722 of the Penal Code of New York, which, in effect, forbids incitement of a breach of the peace. Feiner claimed that his conviction violated his right of free speech under the First
and Fourteenth Amendments
to the United States Constitution
.
Fred Vinson
, the Supreme Court upheld Feiner's arrest.
Focusing on the "rise up in arms and fight for their rights" part of Feiner's speech, the court found that Feiner's First Amendment
rights were not violated, because his arrest came when the police thought that a riot might occur. The court found that the police did not attempt to suppress Feiner's message based on its content, but rather on the reaction of the crowd. The court reaffirmed the fact that a speaker cannot be arrested for the content of his speech. The court also reaffirmed that the police must not be used as an instrument to silence unpopular views, but must be used to silence a speaker who is trying to incite a riot.
New York won, the Chief Justice wrote, because by law, what Feiner did was an imminent threat: the police arrested him because the police wanted to protect the city government and the people of New York.
Justice Douglas, joined by Justice Minton, additionally did not believe the situation constituted a disturbance of the peace, and questioned the fairness of the trial Feiner received.
expelled Mr. Feiner. He finally completed his degree from Syracuse when they readmitted him, and was invited back to the school to speak at the opening of the Tully Center for Free Speech in October 2006. He continued to fight for tuition reimbursement, as his original schooling had been covered under the GI Bill. Following the court ruling, Feiner tried to work on a local newspaper but was fired after the Federal Bureau of Investigation
(FBI) sent agents to the small town office and informed the editor of Feiner's "criminal" past. The FBI continued to haunt Feiner's life; he enjoyed telling his family and friends of an incident in which agents would not get off his property, so his wife, Trudy, sprayed them with a garden hose.
Irving Feiner lived in Nyack, New York
where he had been a small business owner. He continued to fight and write about freedom of speech and progressive issues, including squaring off, on First Amendment grounds, against Stephen Baldwin
, who fought to keep an adult bookstore from opening in the village. He had two adult daughters, Susan and Emily, and five grandchildren: Lisa, Dana, and Laurie Roberts, and Rebecca and Jeremy Feiner Blair. Born in 1924, Mr. Feiner was 84 years old and was involved in school/property tax reform and fighting a planned village parking garage when he died on January 23, 2009.
, Feiner gave several surprise guest lectures to students of Professor Heumann's Civil Liberties class at Rutgers University
in New Brunswick, NJ. Those lectures took place on February 14, 2006 and February 12, 2008. Feiner explained his side of the case, contending that some of the facts found in the Supreme Court's decision were mistaken or that some facts were omitted. For example, the only witnesses that the prosecution called were the two arresting officers. The infamous "S.O.B." man was never called as a witness. Feiner also explained that shortly after V-E day he was in Paris where he saw a V-E parade in which marchers marched with locked arms. Feiner claims that in his speech the night he was arrested he said "the Negroes of this town should march with locked arms down to the mayor's office and demand their rights." As a result of this case, the University of Iowa College of Law
retracted its offer of admission.
In this instance, the Supreme Court only dealt with matters of law and not with matters of fact. Matters of fact are usually established in lower trial courts, and the Supreme Court generally makes its decisions based on the lower courts' findings.
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
case involving Irving Feiner's arrest for a violation of section 722 of the New York Penal Code, "inciting a breach of the peace," as he addressed a crowd on a street.
Facts
On the evening of March 8, 1949, Irving Feiner was arrested after making an inflammatory speech to a mixed crowd of 75 or 80 African Americans and white peopleWhite people
White people is a term which usually refers to human beings characterized, at least in part, by the light pigmentation of their skin...
at the corner of South McBride and Harrison Streets in Syracuse, New York
Syracuse, New York
Syracuse is a city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States, the largest U.S. city with the name "Syracuse", and the fifth most populous city in the state. At the 2010 census, the city population was 145,170, and its metropolitan area had a population of 742,603...
. Feiner, a college student, had been standing on a large wooden box on the sidewalk, addressing a crowd through a loud-speaker system attached to an automobile. He made derogatory remarks about President Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
, the American Legion
American Legion
The American Legion is a mutual-aid organization of veterans of the United States armed forces chartered by the United States Congress. It was founded to benefit those veterans who served during a wartime period as defined by Congress...
, the Mayor of Syracuse and other local political officials. Chief Justice Vinson said that Feiner "gave the impression that he was endeavoring to arouse the Negro people against the whites, urging that they rise up in arms and fight for equal rights." The crowd, which blocked the sidewalk and overflowed into the street in which there was oncoming traffic, became restless, with some in the crowd voicing both opposition and support for Feiner. An onlooker threatened violence if the police did not act. After having observed the situation for some time without interference, police officers, in order to prevent a fight, requested the petitioner to get off the box and stop speaking. After his third refusal, they arrested him, and he was convicted of violating 722 of the Penal Code of New York, which, in effect, forbids incitement of a breach of the peace. Feiner claimed that his conviction violated his right of free speech under the First
First Amendment to the United States Constitution
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering...
and Fourteenth Amendments
Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was adopted on July 9, 1868, as one of the Reconstruction Amendments.Its Citizenship Clause provides a broad definition of citizenship that overruled the Dred Scott v...
to the United States Constitution
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...
.
The decision of the court
In a 6–3 decision delivered by Chief JusticeChief Justice
The Chief Justice in many countries is the name for the presiding member of a Supreme Court in Commonwealth or other countries with an Anglo-Saxon justice system based on English common law, such as the Supreme Court of Canada, the Constitutional Court of South Africa, the Court of Final Appeal of...
Fred Vinson
Fred M. Vinson
Frederick Moore Vinson served the United States in all three branches of government and was the most prominent member of the Vinson political family. In the legislative branch, he was an elected member of the United States House of Representatives from Louisa, Kentucky, for twelve years...
, the Supreme Court upheld Feiner's arrest.
Focusing on the "rise up in arms and fight for their rights" part of Feiner's speech, the court found that Feiner's First Amendment
First Amendment to the United States Constitution
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering...
rights were not violated, because his arrest came when the police thought that a riot might occur. The court found that the police did not attempt to suppress Feiner's message based on its content, but rather on the reaction of the crowd. The court reaffirmed the fact that a speaker cannot be arrested for the content of his speech. The court also reaffirmed that the police must not be used as an instrument to silence unpopular views, but must be used to silence a speaker who is trying to incite a riot.
New York won, the Chief Justice wrote, because by law, what Feiner did was an imminent threat: the police arrested him because the police wanted to protect the city government and the people of New York.
The dissent
Justice Black wrote a foresighted dissent, saying that the evidence did not show that the crowd was about to riot. He also pointed out that the police, instead of arresting Feiner, should have probably protected him from hostile members of the crowd. The police "did not even pretend to try to protect" Feiner. Police testimony showed that, although the crowd was restless, "there [was] no showing of any attempt to quiet it . . . one person threatened to assault [Feiner] but the officers did nothing to discourage this when even a word might have sufficed."Justice Douglas, joined by Justice Minton, additionally did not believe the situation constituted a disturbance of the peace, and questioned the fairness of the trial Feiner received.
Aftermath
As a result of his conviction, Syracuse UniversitySyracuse University
Syracuse University is a private research university located in Syracuse, New York, United States. Its roots can be traced back to Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1832, which also later founded Genesee College...
expelled Mr. Feiner. He finally completed his degree from Syracuse when they readmitted him, and was invited back to the school to speak at the opening of the Tully Center for Free Speech in October 2006. He continued to fight for tuition reimbursement, as his original schooling had been covered under the GI Bill. Following the court ruling, Feiner tried to work on a local newspaper but was fired after the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
(FBI) sent agents to the small town office and informed the editor of Feiner's "criminal" past. The FBI continued to haunt Feiner's life; he enjoyed telling his family and friends of an incident in which agents would not get off his property, so his wife, Trudy, sprayed them with a garden hose.
Irving Feiner lived in Nyack, New York
Nyack, New York
Nyack is a village in the towns of Orangetown and Clarkstown in Rockland County, New York, United States, located north of South Nyack; east of Central Nyack; south of Upper Nyack and west of the Hudson River, approximately 19 miles north of the Manhattan boundary, it is an inner suburb of New...
where he had been a small business owner. He continued to fight and write about freedom of speech and progressive issues, including squaring off, on First Amendment grounds, against Stephen Baldwin
Stephen Baldwin
Stephen Andrew Baldwin is an American actor, director, producer and author. One of the Baldwin brothers, he is known for his roles as William F. Cody in the western show The Young Riders and as Stuart in the movie Threesome...
, who fought to keep an adult bookstore from opening in the village. He had two adult daughters, Susan and Emily, and five grandchildren: Lisa, Dana, and Laurie Roberts, and Rebecca and Jeremy Feiner Blair. Born in 1924, Mr. Feiner was 84 years old and was involved in school/property tax reform and fighting a planned village parking garage when he died on January 23, 2009.
Lectures at Rutgers University
At the invitation of renowned Professor of Political Science, Milton HeumannMilton Heumann
Milton Heumann is a renowned professor of Political Science at Rutgers University. He received his B.A. from Brooklyn College and his M.Phil. and Ph.D. from Yale University. He taught at the University of Michigan before joining the Rutgers faculty in 1981. He has spent many semesters as a Visiting...
, Feiner gave several surprise guest lectures to students of Professor Heumann's Civil Liberties class at Rutgers University
Rutgers University
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in New Jersey, United States. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States and one of the nine Colonial colleges founded before the American...
in New Brunswick, NJ. Those lectures took place on February 14, 2006 and February 12, 2008. Feiner explained his side of the case, contending that some of the facts found in the Supreme Court's decision were mistaken or that some facts were omitted. For example, the only witnesses that the prosecution called were the two arresting officers. The infamous "S.O.B." man was never called as a witness. Feiner also explained that shortly after V-E day he was in Paris where he saw a V-E parade in which marchers marched with locked arms. Feiner claims that in his speech the night he was arrested he said "the Negroes of this town should march with locked arms down to the mayor's office and demand their rights." As a result of this case, the University of Iowa College of Law
University of Iowa College of Law
The University of Iowa College of Law is one of the eleven professional graduate schools at the University of Iowa, located in Iowa City, Iowa. Founded in 1865, it is the oldest law school in continuous operation west of the Mississippi River. The law school was ranked as the 27th best law school...
retracted its offer of admission.
In this instance, the Supreme Court only dealt with matters of law and not with matters of fact. Matters of fact are usually established in lower trial courts, and the Supreme Court generally makes its decisions based on the lower courts' findings.
See also
- Heckler's vetoHeckler's vetoA heckler's veto occurs when an acting party's right to freedom of speech is curtailed or restricted by the government in order to prevent a reacting party's behavior...
- List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 340
- Kunz v. New YorkKunz v. New YorkKunz v. New York, 340 U.S. 290 , was a United States Supreme Court case finding a requirement mandating a permit to speak on religious issues in public was unconstitutional. It was argued October 17, 1950, and decided January 15, 1951, by vote of 8 to 1. Chief Justice Vinson delivered the opinion...
, - Protest and Free Speech: A conversation with an SU free-speech pioneer, Irving Feiner