Brown v. Hartlage

456 U.S. 45 · Decided April 5, 1982 · Supreme Court of the United States

At a glance

Brown v. Hartlage was decided on April 5, 1982 unanimously (9–0). The Court reversed the lower court's decision and remanded the case. Justice William J. Brennan Jr. wrote the opinion of the Court. SCDB classifies its main issue as “First Amendment, miscellaneous” in the First Amendment area. SCDB records that the Court declared a state or territorial law, regulation or constitutional provision unconstitutional.

Read the opinion

• CourtListener (Free Law Project) — opinion text
• Library of Congress — official U.S. Reports scan

Case details

How the Justices voted

Full case caption

Brown v. Hartlage

SCDB identifiers: case 1981-073, docket 1981-073-01.

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Same Term, same area (First Amendment)

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Source: Supreme Court Database, 2026 Release 01 (data file dated September 8, 2026). Imported into CaseTrail November 5, 2026. Coverage: decisions from the 1946 through 2025 Terms. Methodology · Report an error