Lebron v. National Railroad Passenger Corp.

1995 United States Supreme Court case

Lebron v. National Railroad Passenger Corporation
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued November 7, 1994 Decided February 21, 1995
Full case name	Michael A. Lebron, Petitioner v. National Railroad Passenger Corporation
Citations	513 U.S. 374 (more)115 S. Ct. 961; 130 L. Ed. 2d 902; 1995 U.S. LEXIS 909; 63 U.S.L.W. 4109; 95 Cal. Daily Op. Service 1228; 95 Daily Journal DAR 2219; 8 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. S 564
Case history
Prior	On writ of cert. to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
Holding
Amtrak is a government actor for the purposes of the First Amendment and is subject to its provisions.
Court membership
Chief Justice William Rehnquist Associate Justices John P. Stevens · Sandra Day O'Connor Antonin Scalia · Anthony Kennedy David Souter · Clarence Thomas Ruth Bader Ginsburg · Stephen Breyer
Case opinions
Majority	Scalia, joined by Rehnquist, Stevens, Kennedy, Souter, Thomas, Ginsburg, Breyer
Dissent	O'Connor
Laws applied
U.S. Const. Amend. I

Lebron v. National Railroad Passenger Corporation, 513 U.S. 374 (1995), is a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that Amtrak is a government agency and is thus subject to the First Amendment. The Court issued its decision in a 8–1 vote, with seven justices joining the majority opinion authored by Antonin Scalia. The lone dissent came from Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

Background

Michael A. Lebron rented a large billboard in Amtrak's Penn Station. The advertisement was highly critical of the Coors Brewing Company for their support of the Contras in Nicaragua. The railroad turned down the ad because it was political, although the particular point of view was not an issue.

The District Court ruled that Amtrak, because of its close ties to the Federal Government, was a Government actor for First Amendment purposes, and that its rejection of the display was unconstitutional. The Court of Appeals reversed, noting that Amtrak was, by the terms of the legislation that created it, not a Government entity, and concluding that the Government was not so involved with Amtrak that the latter's decisions could be considered federal action.

Decision

Even though Amtrak is not incorporated as a government agency, it largely functions as one. Similar to the ruling in Burton v. Wilmington Parking Authority, the court found that the public and private entities functioned together to the point where Amtrak was covered by the First Amendment.

Later, in Department of Transportation v. Association of American Railroads, the court held that Amtrak is a governmental entity for purposes of determining the validity of the metrics and standards.

References

"Lebron v. National Railroad Passenger Corporation, 513 U.S. 374 (1995)".

External links

Text of Lebron v. National Railroad Passenger Corp., 513 U.S. 374 (1995) is available from: Justia Library of Congress Oyez (oral argument audio)

U.S. Supreme Court Freedom of Speech Clause case law

First Amendment to the United States Constitution

Unprotected speech

Clear and present danger and imminent lawless action	Schenck v. United States (1919) Debs v. United States (1919) Abrams v. United States (1919) Gitlow v. New York (1925) Whitney v. California (1927) Fiske v. Kansas (1927) Dennis v. United States (1951) Communist Party v. Subversive Activities Control Bd. (1955; 1961) Yates v. United States (1957) Bond v. Floyd (1966) Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969) Hess v. Indiana (1973)
Defamation and false speech	New York Times Co. v. Sullivan (1964) Hustler Magazine v. Falwell (1988) United States v. Alvarez (2012) Susan B. Anthony List v. Driehaus (2014)
Fighting words and the heckler's veto	Cantwell v. Connecticut (1940) Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire (1942) Terminiello v. City of Chicago (1949) Feiner v. New York (1951) Gregory v. City of Chicago (1969) Cohen v. California (1971) Nat'l Socialist Party v. Village of Skokie (1977) R.A.V. v. City of St. Paul (1992) Snyder v. Phelps (2011)
True threats and threatening the President of the United States	Virginia v. Black (2003) Elonis v. United States (2015) Counterman v. Colorado (2023)
Obscenity	Rosen v. United States (1896) Roth v. United States (1957) One, Inc. v. Olesen (1958) Smith v. California (1959) Marcus v. Search Warrant (1961) Manual Enterprises, Inc. v. Day (1962) Jacobellis v. Ohio (1964) Quantity of Books v. Kansas (1964) Ginzburg v. United States (1966) Memoirs v. Massachusetts (1966) Redrup v. New York (1967) Ginsberg v. New York (1968) Stanley v. Georgia (1969) United States v. Thirty-seven Photographs (1971) Kois v. Wisconsin (1972) Miller v. California (1973) Paris Adult Theatre I v. Slaton (1973) United States v. 12 200-ft. Reels of Film (1973) Jenkins v. Georgia (1974) Erznoznik v. City of Jacksonville (1975) Young v. American Mini Theatres, Inc. (1976) People v. Freeman (Cal. 1988) United States v. X-Citement Video, Inc. (1994) Reno v. ACLU (1997) United States v. Playboy Entertainment Group, Inc. (2000) City of Los Angeles v. Alameda Books, Inc. (2002) Ashcroft v. American Civil Liberties Union (2002) United States v. American Library Ass'n (2003) United States v. Williams (2008) FCC v. Fox Television Stations, Inc. (2009) United States v. Stevens (2010) Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Ass'n (2011) FCC v. Fox Television Stations, Inc. (2012) Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton (2025)
Speech integral to criminal conduct	New York v. Ferber (1982) Osborne v. Ohio (1990) Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition (2002) United States v. Hansen (2023)

Strict scrutiny

Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project (2010)
Williams-Yulee v. Florida Bar (2015)

Overbreadth and
Vagueness doctrines

Smith v. Goguen (1974)
Board of Airport Commissioners v. Jews for Jesus (1987)
Minnesota Voters Alliance v. Mansky (2018)

Symbolic speech
versus conduct

Stromberg v. California (1931)
United States v. O'Brien (1968)
Cohen v. California (1971)
Spence v. Washington (1974)
Clark v. Community for Creative Non-Violence (1984)
Dallas v. Stanglin (1989)
Texas v. Johnson (1989)
United States v. Eichman (1990)
Barnes v. Glen Theatre (1991)
City of Erie v. Pap's A. M. (2000)
Virginia v. Black (2003)

Content-based
restrictions

Lamont v. Postmaster General (1965)
Metromedia, Inc. v. San Diego (1981)
Boos v. Barry (1988)
Simon & Schuster, Inc. v. Crime Victims Board (1991)
R.A.V. v. City of St. Paul (1992)
Reed v. Town of Gilbert (2015)
Barr v. American Association of Political Consultants (2020)
City of Austin v. Reagan National Advertising of Austin, LLC (2022)

Content-neutral
restrictions

Schneider v. New Jersey (1939)
United States v. Albertini (1985)
Renton v. Playtime Theatres, Inc. (1986)
Arcara v. Cloud Books, Inc. (1986)
City of Ladue v. Gilleo (1994)
Packingham v. North Carolina (2017)
TikTok v. Garland (2025)

In the public forum	Davis v. Massachusetts (1897) Hague v. CIO (1939) Thornhill v. Alabama (1940) Martin v. City of Struthers (1943) Niemotko v. Maryland (1951) Edwards v. South Carolina (1963) Cox v. Louisiana (1965) Brown v. Louisiana (1966) Adderley v. Florida (1966) Carroll v. Town of Princess Anne (1968) Coates v. City of Cincinnati (1971) Org. for a Better Austin v. Keefe (1971) Clark v. Community for Creative Non-Violence (1984) Frisby v. Schultz (1988) Ward v. Rock Against Racism (1989) Burson v. Freeman (1992) Madsen v. Women's Health Center, Inc. (1994) Schenck v. Pro-Choice Network of Western New York (1997) Hill v. Colorado (2000) McCullen v. Coakley (2014)
Designated public forum	Widmar v. Vincent (1981) Rosenberger v. Univ. of Virginia (1995) Uzuegbunam v. Preczewski (2021)
Nonpublic forum	Lehman v. Shaker Heights (1974) Perry Education Association v. Perry Local Educators' Association (1983) Cornelius v. NAACP Legal Defense Fund (1985) Arkansas Educational Television Commission v. Forbes (1997) Minnesota Voters Alliance v. Mansky (2018)