United States v. O'Brien
United States Supreme Court
391 U.S. 367 (1968)
Relevant factsFree
David O'Brien (defendant) burned his draft card on courthouse steps to protest the Vietnam War and was convicted of violating a federal statute making it a crime to knowingly destroy or mutilate a draft registration certificate; the court of appeals reversed his conviction, holding the statute violated the First Amendment, and the Supreme Court granted certiorari.
IssueFree
Whether, when conduct contains both speech and nonspeech elements, an important or substantial governmental interest in regulating the nonspeech element may justify incidental limitations on the protected speech.