Also known as: picket · pickets · picketed · picketer · picketers · picket line
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A demonstration by one or more persons outside a business or organization to protest the entity's activities or policies and to pressure the entity to meet the protesters' demands. Peaceful picketing on public land addressing matters of public concern receives First Amendment protection even when it causes emotional distress.
Patrick Phan and members of Pulse Media stood on a public access road near a military funeral holding signs criticizing defense policy. The group remained silent and orderly without blocking access or confronting attendees. Family members sued for intentional infliction of emotional distress after seeing the signs.
Portia Price led a group carrying signs outside a single residence to protest the homeowner's policies. The city enforced an ordinance limiting focused picketing at homes. The protesters argued the restriction violated their speech rights on public sidewalks.
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Pilar Pena organized informational picketing near a school criticizing local education policies. City officials allowed only labor-related signs while stopping all other demonstrations. Pena challenged the selective enforcement as viewpoint discrimination.
Paul Peterson and fellow union members attempted to picket inside a privately owned shopping mall to publicize a labor dispute. Mall management ordered them to leave and enforced a no-picketing policy. The group claimed the mall functioned as a public forum subject to constitutional limits.
Patricia Patel directed union workers to picket a construction site over a subcontractor's wage practices. The action targeted the entire site rather than the specific employer. Subcontractors sought an injunction claiming the picketing exceeded protected activity.
Pierce Patterson coordinated picketing outside a factory to persuade employees to join the union as their bargaining agent. Management claimed the activity interfered with operations. Workers filed suit alleging the picketing violated federal labor policy.
Peaceful picketing addressing matters of public concern on public land receives special First Amendment protection even when it causes severe emotional distress. Tort liability for intentional infliction of emotional distress is barred absent additional unprotected conduct such as true threats or physical obstruction.
A content-neutral ban on focused picketing in front of a single residence is a valid time, place, and manner restriction. The rule protects residential privacy and tranquility while leaving open alternative channels such as marching through the neighborhood.
An ordinance allowing only labor picketing near schools while prohibiting all other picketing is an unconstitutional content-based restriction. The government may not selectively permit speech on a subject-matter basis in a public forum without satisfying strict scrutiny.
A privately owned shopping mall is not the functional equivalent of a town for state-action purposes. The owner may therefore bar picketing without being bound by First Amendment constraints that apply to municipalities.
…exemption for religious use of peyote. Cf. Boos v. Barry , 485 U. S. 312, 329 (1988) (finding that an ordinance restricting picketing near a foreign embassy was not the least restrictive means of serving the asserted government interest; existence of an analogous, but more narrowly drawn, federal statute showed that “a…