Patterson v. Colorado ex rel. the Attorney General of the State of Colorado

Summary

The Court dismissed the writ of error because the asserted errors concerned state law and did not establish an infringement of federal constitutional rights. It held that the Fourteenth Amendment does not convert state-law questions about contempt proceedings, the pendency of litigation, or changes in state law into federal questions, and that truthful publications may nevertheless be punished as contempt when they threaten to interfere with pending judicial proceedings. Justice Harlan, dissenting, would have recognized federal protection for free speech and press under the Fourteenth Amendment, while Justice Brewer, separately dissenting, would have reached the merits rather than dismissing for lack of jurisdiction.