ABSTRACT
In Harriett Louise Adderley v. Florida, a five-justice majority of the US Supreme Court articulated limitations on the First Amendment rights of freedom of speech, assembly, and petition, as applied to the states under the Fourteenth Amendment, when the activity is conducted on publicly owned property. Though the opinion favored the state of Florida, the Court continued to be sharply divided over the constitutional protections afforded protesters on publicly owned property. The US Supreme Court was split over the case. Justice Hugo L. Black, writing for the majority, argued that previous decisions favoring protesters were not applicable to the instant case because those individuals were not protesting on property open to the public.
