Pittsburgh Press Co. v. Pittsburgh Commission on Human Relations
Supreme Court of the United States
Pittsburgh Press Co. v. Pittsburgh Commission on Human Relations et al.
Certiorari to the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
No. 72-419. Argued: March 20, 1973 --- Decided: June 21, 1973
Following a complaint and hearing, respondent Pittsburgh Commission on Human Relations held that petitioner had violated a city ordinance by using an advertising system in its daily newspaper whereby employment opportunities are published under headings designating job preference by sex. On appeal from affirmance of the Commission's cease-and-desist order, the court below barred petitioner from referring to sex in employment headings, unless the want ads placed beneath them relate to employment opportunities not subject to the ordinance's prohibition against sex discrimination. Petitioner contends that the ordinance contravenes its constitutional rights to freedom of the press.
Held: The Pittsburgh ordinance as construed to forbid newspapers to carry sex-designated advertising columns for nonexempt job opportunities does not violate petitioner's First Amendment rights. Pp. 381-391.
- (a) The advertisements here, which did not implicate the newspaper's freedom of expression or its financial viability, were "purely commercial advertising," which is not protected by the First Amendment. Valentine v. Chrestensen, 316 U.S. 52, 54. New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254, distinguished. Pp. 384-387.
- (b) Petitioner's argument against maintaining the Chrestensen distinction between commercial and other speech is unpersuasive in the context of a case like this, where the regulation of the want ads was incidental to and coextensive with the regulation of employment discrimination. Pp. 387-389.
- (c) The Commission's order, which was clear and no broader than necessary, is not a prior restraint endangering arguably protected speech. Pp. 389-390.
4 Pa. Commw. 448, 287 A.2d 161, affirmed.
POWELL, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which BRENNAN, WHITE, MARSHALL, and REHNQUIST, JJ., joined. BURGER, C.J., post, p. 393, and DOUGLAS, J., post, p. 397, filed dissenting opinions. STEWART, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which DOUGLAS, J., joined, post, p. 400. BLACKMUN, J., filed a dissenting opinion, post, p. 404.
Charles R. Volk argued the cause for petitioner. With him on the briefs was Ralph T. DeStefano.
Eugene B. Strassburger III argued the cause and filed a brief for respondents Pittsburgh Commission on Human Relations et al. Marjorie H. Matson argued the cause for respondent National Organization of Women, Inc. With her on the brief was Sylvia Roberts.[1]
- ↑ Arthur B. Hanson and Ralph N. Albright, Jr., filed a brief for the American Newspaper Publishers Assn. as amicus curiae urging reversal.
Briefs of amici curiae urging affirmance were filed by Solicitor General Griswold, Assistant Attorney General Pottinger, Deputy Solicitor General Wallace, Harriet S. Shapiro, John C. Hoyle, Julia P. Cooper, and Beatrice Rosenberg for the United States; by Evelle J. Younger, Attorney General of California, Robert H. O'Brien and Carl Boronkay, Assistant Attorneys General, and Judith T. Ashmann, Deputy Attorney General, for the California Fair Employment Practice Commission; by George F. Kugler, Jr., Attorney General, Stephen Skillman, Assistant Attorney General, and David S. Litwin, Deputy Attorney General, for the State of New Jersey; by Israel Packel, Attorney General of Pennsylvania, and Roy Yaffe and Michael L. Golden, Jr., Assistant Attorneys General, for the Pennsylvania Commission on the Status of Women et al.; by Norman Dorsen, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Jeffrey A. Kay for the American Civil Liberties Union et al.; by Phineas Indritz, Elizabeth Boyer, Marguerite Rawalt, Martha W. Griffiths, Margaret M. Heckler, and Donald M. Fraser for the American Veterans Committee, Inc., et al.; by Philip J. Tierney for the International Association of Official Human Rights Agencies; and by Rita Page Reuss and Jane M. Picker for the Women's Law Fund, Inc.