Tom C. Clark

“ Since the Court does not attack the state courts' findings and accepts the convictions as 'binding' to the extent that the petitioners' conduct constituted a breach of the peace, it is difficult for me to understand its understatement of the facts and reversal of the convictions.
The priceless character of First Amendment freedoms cannot be gainsaid, but it does not follow that they are absolutes immune from necessary state action reasonably designed for the protection of society. ”

“ The convictions of the petitioners, Negro high school and college students, for breach of the peace under South Carolina law are accepted by the Court 'as binding upon us to that extent' but are held violative of 'petitioners' constitutionally protected rights of free speech, free assembly, and freedom to petition for redress of their grievances.' Petitioners, of course, had a right to peaceable assembly, to espouse their cause and to petition, but in my view the manner in which they exercised those rights was by no means the passive demonstration which this Court relates ”

“ Here 200 youthful Negro demonstrators were being aroused to a 'fever pitch' before a crowd of some 300 people who undoubtedly were hostile. Perhaps their speech was not so animated but in this setting their actions, their placards reading 'You may jail our bodies but not our souls' and their chanting of 'I Shall Not Be Moved,' accompanied by stamping feet and clapping hands, created a much greater danger of riot and disorder. ”