Amalgamated Employees Union Local 590 v. Logan Valley Plaza, Inc.
391 U.S. 308 (1968)

  • Logan owned a mall containing a Weis supermarket. Amalgamated sent picketers to the mall to protest Weis' union policies.
  • Logan attempted to get Amalgamated off their property.
    • Amalgamated claimed they had a 1st Amendment right to free speech.
    • Logan claimed that the 1st Amendment doesn't apply on private property.
      • The State Action Doctrine says that the Bill of Rights only applied to governmental actions, not those of private persons.
  • The US Supreme Court found for Amalgamated.
    • The US Supreme Court noted that picketing on public property would be covered by the 1st Amendment.
    • The Court looked to Marsh v. Alabama (326 U.S. 501 (1946)) and found that when the general public has unrestricted access to a business area, the State may not use it's trespass laws to exclude members of the public wishing to exercise their 1st Amendment rights.
      • This is an extension of the Public Function Exception.
    • The Court found that the exercise of 1st Amendment rights may be regulated where such exercises unduly interfere with the normal use of the public property by other members of the public.
  • This decision was later overturned in Hudgens v. National Labor Relations Board (424 U.S. 507 (1976)), which found that only businesses which meet the Public Function Exception are bound by the 1st Amendment.