Saia v. New York

Summary

The Supreme Court held that the Lockport ordinance requiring a police chief's permit for the use of loud‑speaker devices in public parks is facially unconstitutional as a prior restraint on speech protected by the First Amendment and incorporated by the Fourteenth Amendment. The Court reversed the New York Court of Appeals. Justice Jackson dissented, arguing the ordinance is a permissible regulation, and Justice Frankfurter concurred in part but dissented from the reversal, believing the ordinance was not arbitrary.