Bates v. City of Little Rock

E666852

United States Supreme Court case landmark case

Bates v. City of Little Rock is a 1960 U.S. Supreme Court case that limited governmental power to compel disclosure of NAACP membership lists, reinforcing First Amendment protections for freedom of association.

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All labels observed (3)

Label	Occurrences
Bates et al. v. City of Little Rock et al.	1
Bates v. City of Little Rock canonical	1
Bates v. City of Little Rock, 229 Ark. 819, 319 S.W.2d 37 (Ark. 1958)	1

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T7476054 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Bates v. City of Little Rock
Context triple: [NAACP v. Alabama, relatedCase, Bates v. City of Little Rock]

A. Shuttlesworth v. Birmingham
Shuttlesworth v. Birmingham is a 1969 U.S. Supreme Court case in which the Court struck down a city ordinance that gave officials broad discretion to deny parade permits, reinforcing First Amendment protections for civil rights demonstrators.
B. NAACP v. Claiborne Hardware Co.
NAACP v. Claiborne Hardware Co. is a landmark 1982 U.S. Supreme Court case that held nonviolent civil rights boycotts and related advocacy are protected by the First Amendment.
C. Browder v. Gayle
Browder v. Gayle was the landmark 1956 federal court case that declared bus segregation in Montgomery, Alabama unconstitutional, effectively ending the Montgomery bus boycott and striking a major blow against Jim Crow laws.
D. Stone v. Mississippi
Stone v. Mississippi is an 1880 U.S. Supreme Court case in which the Court held that a state cannot irrevocably surrender its police power, allowing Mississippi to prohibit a previously chartered lottery despite contractual claims.
E. Craig v. Boren
Craig v. Boren is a 1976 U.S. Supreme Court case that established intermediate scrutiny as the standard for evaluating gender-based classifications under the Equal Protection Clause.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Bates v. City of Little Rock
Target entity description: Bates v. City of Little Rock is a 1960 U.S. Supreme Court case that limited governmental power to compel disclosure of NAACP membership lists, reinforcing First Amendment protections for freedom of association.

A. Shuttlesworth v. Birmingham
Shuttlesworth v. Birmingham is a 1969 U.S. Supreme Court case in which the Court struck down a city ordinance that gave officials broad discretion to deny parade permits, reinforcing First Amendment protections for civil rights demonstrators.
B. NAACP v. Claiborne Hardware Co.
NAACP v. Claiborne Hardware Co. is a landmark 1982 U.S. Supreme Court case that held nonviolent civil rights boycotts and related advocacy are protected by the First Amendment.
C. Browder v. Gayle
Browder v. Gayle was the landmark 1956 federal court case that declared bus segregation in Montgomery, Alabama unconstitutional, effectively ending the Montgomery bus boycott and striking a major blow against Jim Crow laws.
D. Stone v. Mississippi
Stone v. Mississippi is an 1880 U.S. Supreme Court case in which the Court held that a state cannot irrevocably surrender its police power, allowing Mississippi to prohibit a previously chartered lottery despite contractual claims.
E. Craig v. Boren
Craig v. Boren is a 1976 U.S. Supreme Court case that established intermediate scrutiny as the standard for evaluating gender-based classifications under the Equal Protection Clause.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (50)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	United States Supreme Court case ⓘ landmark case ⓘ
areaOfLaw	civil liberties ⓘ civil rights ⓘ constitutional law ⓘ
arguedDate	1959-11-18 ⓘ
citation	361 U.S. 516 ⓘ
concurrenceBy	William J. Brennan Jr. ⓘ
constitutionalProvision	First Amendment to the United States Constitution ⓘ Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution ⓘ linked to: Fourteenth Amendment
country	United States ⓘ linked to: United States of America
court	Supreme Court of the United States ⓘ
decisionDate	1960-02-23 ⓘ
dissentBy	Charles E. Whittaker ⓘ Felix Frankfurter ⓘ John M. Harlan II ⓘ
effect	limited governmental power to compel disclosure of membership lists of advocacy organizations ⓘ reinforced First Amendment protections for freedom of association ⓘ
fullName	Bates et al. v. City of Little Rock et al. ⓘ linked to: Bates v. City of Little Rock
holding	Compelling disclosure of NAACP membership lists by the cities violated the petitioners' rights of freedom of association protected by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. ⓘ The governmental interest asserted by the cities did not justify the deterrent effect on the freedom of association of NAACP members. ⓘ
joinedByInMajority	Charles E. Whittaker ⓘ Earl Warren ⓘ Hugo L. Black ⓘ Potter Stewart ⓘ Tom C. Clark ⓘ William O. Douglas ⓘ
jurisdiction	Arkansas ⓘ United States ⓘ linked to: United States of America
legalIssue	due process ⓘ freedom of association ⓘ governmental power to compel disclosure of membership lists ⓘ
locationOfEvents	Little Rock, Arkansas ⓘ North Little Rock, Arkansas ⓘ
majorityOpinionBy	John M. Harlan II ⓘ
page	516 ⓘ
petitioner	Bates ⓘ NAACP officers in Little Rock and North Little Rock ⓘ
priorHistory	Bates v. City of Little Rock, 229 Ark. 819, 319 S.W.2d 37 (Ark. 1958) ⓘ linked to: Bates v. City of Little Rock
relatedCase	Gibson v. Florida Legislative Investigation Committee ⓘ NAACP v. Alabama ex rel. Patterson ⓘ linked to: NAACP v. Alabama Shelton v. Tucker ⓘ
reporter	United States Reports ⓘ
respondent	City of Little Rock ⓘ linked to: Little Rock, Arkansas City of North Little Rock ⓘ linked to: North Little Rock, Arkansas
timePeriod	Civil Rights Era ⓘ linked to: American civil rights movement
topic	NAACP membership lists ⓘ civil rights organizations ⓘ municipal occupational license taxes ⓘ
volume	361 ⓘ

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (3)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

NAACP v. Alabama → relatedCase → Bates v. City of Little Rock ⓘ

Bates v. City of Little Rock → fullName → Bates et al. v. City of Little Rock et al. ⓘ

linked to: Bates v. City of Little Rock

Bates v. City of Little Rock → priorHistory → Bates v. City of Little Rock, 229 Ark. 819, 319 S.W.2d 37 (Ark. 1958) ⓘ