## Facts

- A regional public library system in Louisiana operated segregated services, excluding Black patrons from branch libraries and providing separate bookmobile service.
- Henry Brown and four other Black men entered a branch library reading room in Clinton, Louisiana, where only a library assistant was present.
- Brown requested a book; the assistant agreed to obtain it through the state library system and later mailed it to him.
- After the transaction, library staff asked the men to leave; Brown sat quietly in a chair while the others stood silently nearby.
- The men remained for roughly 10–15 minutes without loud speech, disruption, or disorder; no other patrons were present.
- The sheriff and deputies arrived, ordered the men to leave, and arrested them when they refused.
- Louisiana prosecuted and convicted them under a breach-of-the-peace statute penalizing congregating in a public building with intent to provoke a breach of the peace, or under circumstances likely to occasion one, and refusing to disperse when ordered.
- The Louisiana Supreme Court affirmed; the U.S. Supreme Court reversed.

## Issues

1. Whether a peaceful, silent sit-in at a public library protesting racially segregated access is protected expression and assembly under the First and Fourteenth Amendments.
2. Whether, on this record, Louisiana could constitutionally apply its breach-of-the-peace statute to arrest and convict the demonstrators for refusing to leave.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court reversed the convictions in a 5–4 decision.
- A plurality concluded there was no evidence that petitioners intended to provoke a breach of the peace or that circumstances made a breach likely; applying the statute to their conduct violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments.
- Concurring Justices agreed the convictions could not stand because the record showed no actual or threatened disturbance.
- The dissent argued the First Amendment does not grant a right to occupy government property as a place for protest and would have upheld the convictions based on refusal to leave.

## Legal Principles

- Peaceful, orderly, non-disruptive protest in a public facility, including silent and symbolic conduct, is protected by the First Amendment as applied to the States through the Fourteenth Amendment.
- Breach-of-the-peace statutes may not be applied to punish expressive conduct absent evidence of actual or threatened disorder, or a showing that the conduct is likely to provoke a breach of the peace.
- A State may regulate use of public facilities, but regulation must be reasonably nondiscriminatory and equally applicable to all; facially neutral laws cannot be used to enforce racially segregated access or suppress protest against discrimination.

## Conclusion

The Court held that Louisiana could not constitutionally convict peaceful, silent library protesters under a breach-of-the-peace statute where the record showed no intent to provoke disorder and no circumstances indicating that a disturbance was likely, reaffirming First Amendment protection for nonviolent protest in public facilities and limiting discriminatory enforcement through ostensibly neutral laws.


Brown v. Louisiana, 383 U.S. 131 (1966)