Significance: This ruling established that freedom of speech and expression does not take priority over private property rights.
Background: The Lloyd Corporation owned a large shopping mall in Portland, Oregon. The corporation sometimes allowed various civic groups to conduct public functions or fund-raising drives in the mall, but it did establish limits on public conduct there. In this case, Lloyd decided not to allow Vietnam War protesters Donald Tanner, Betsy Wheeler, and Susan Roberts to distribute handbills inside the mall. Tanner and the others sued, claiming that the mall’s action violated their First and Fourteenth Amendment rights. The Lloyd Corporation countered that because the mall was private property, the protesters did not have the right to use it for business unrelated to the mall’s operations.
Decision: This case was argued on April 18, 1972, and decided on June 22, 1972, by a vote of 5 to 4. Justice Lewis Powell spoke for the Court, which ruled in favor of the corporation. The Court pointed out that the First and Fourteenth Amendments apply to restrictions on state action, not to action against holders of private property. In this case, the corporation had the right to restrict how its private property was used by others.
Excerpt from the Opinion of the Court: “In addressing this issue, it must be remembered the First and Fourteenth Amendments safeguard the rights of free speech and assembly by limitations on state action, not on action by the owner of private property used nondiscriminatorily for private purposes only.”
