Gardell Anthony Morehead, Appellant v. the State of Texas, Appellee

Summary

The Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas held that Texas Penal Code § 42.05 is facially overbroad and violates the First Amendment as applied through the Fourteenth Amendment. The statute can be narrowed to punish only physical acts or verbal utterances that substantially impair the ordinary conduct of lawful meetings and curtail others' First Amendment rights, but because the jury was not instructed under that narrowed construction, the conviction was reversed and the case remanded. Justice Clinton dissented, arguing that the statute is unambiguous and cannot be saved by judicial narrowing.