Earl Warren,
Wright v. Georgia — Opinion of the Court
“ Since there is some question as to whether the Georgia Supreme Court considered petitioners' claim of vagueness to have been properly raised in the demurrer, [3] we prefer to rest our jurisdiction upon a firmer foundation. We hold, for the reasons set forth hereinafter, that there was no adequate state ground for the Georgia court's refusal to consider error in the denial of petitioners' motions for a new trial. ”
Earl Warren,
Wright v. Georgia — Opinion of the Court
“ Under any view of the facts alleged to constitute the violation it cannot be maintained that petitioners had adequate notice that their conduct was prohibited by the breach of the peace statute. It is well established that a conviction under a criminal enactment which does not give adequate notice that the conduct charged is prohibited is violative of due process. ”
Earl Warren,
Wright v. Georgia — Opinion of the Court
“ Murray Winters v. New York, 333 U.S. 507 (68 S.Ct. 665, 92 L.Ed. 840) . * * * Plaintiffs-in-Error could not possibly have predetermined from the wording of the statute that it would have punished as a misdemeanor an assembly for the purpose of playing basketball.'Obviously petitioners did in fact argue the point which they press in this Court. Thus the holding of the Georgia court must not have been that the petitioners abandoned their argument but rather that the argument could not be considered because it was not explicitly identified in the brief with the motions for a new trial. ”
