Sometimes courts protect freedoms articulated in the First Amendment without even citing the amendment. Indeed, during the debate over the Bill of Rights, Federalist defenders of the document had argued that such a bill was unnecessary because the federal government lacked power to deny such rights.  Largely relying upon the common law, the Supreme Court of

In Bates v. Little Rock (1960), the Court affirmed that freedom of
association finds protection within the First Amendment’s free speech and
assembly clauses.

Coates v. City of Cincinnati (1971) said an ordinance making it a crime for
three or more to gather in public and engage in “annoying conduct” violated
the First Amendment.

In Cox v. Louisiana, the Supreme Court overturned a state law used to
arrest civil rights marchers saying the law infringed upon freedoms of
assembly and speech.

De Jonge v. Oregon (1937) said that state governments may not violate the
First Amendment right of peaceable assembly. The decision contributed to
symbolic speech jurisprudence.

Edwards v. South Carolina (1963) said South Carolina violated students’
First Amendment rights when the police dispersed a peaceful protest against
segregation.

In Gregory v. City of Chicago, the Court upheld the First Amendment rights
of peaceful protestors over police attempting to quell anticipated civil
disorder.

Shuttlesworth v. Birmingham (1969) ruled that the conviction of the Rev.
Fred Shuttlesworth for leading a protest march without a permit violated
the First Amendment.

In Thomas v. Collins (1945), a labor case, the Supreme Court enunciated the
preferred position doctrine for First Amendment freedoms of speech and
assembly.

U.S. v. Cruikshank (1876), which arose out of the Colfax Massacre, is
important in First Amendment jurisprudence for statements made about
freedom of peaceable assembly.