Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire

Chaplinsky (defendant), distributing religious literature on a street corner, was warned by a city marshal that a crowd was growing restless after complaints that he was denouncing all religions. After a later disturbance, while being escorted to the police station, Chaplinsky called the marshal a "racketeer" and a "fascist," conduct he admitted to. He was convicted under a New Hampshire law banning offensive, derisive, or annoying speech directed at a person on public streets, and the state supreme court affirmed his conviction; he sought U.S. Supreme Court review, arguing the law violated the First Amendment.