Cantrell v. Forest City Publishing Co.

419 U.S. 245 · Decided December 18, 1974 · Supreme Court of the United States

At a glance

Cantrell v. Forest City Publishing Co. was decided on December 18, 1974 by a vote of 8–1. The Court reversed the lower court's decision and remanded the case. Justice Potter Stewart wrote the opinion of the Court. SCDB classifies its main issue as “Libel and privacy (false light)” in the First Amendment area.

Read the opinion

• CourtListener (Free Law Project) — opinion text
• Library of Congress — official U.S. Reports scan

Case details

How the Justices voted

Full case caption

Cantrell et al. v. Forest City Publishing Co. et al.

SCDB identifiers: case 1974-012, docket 1974-012-01.

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Other cases on “Libel and privacy (false light)”

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Cases on the same legal provision: First Amendment (speech, press, and assembly)

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Same Term, same area (First Amendment)

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  420 U.S. 469Decided March 3, 19758–1Byron R. White
• Southeastern Promotions, Ltd. v. Conrad
  420 U.S. 546Decided March 18, 19756–3Harry A. Blackmun
• Meek v. PittengerLaw held unconstitutional
  421 U.S. 349Decided May 19, 19756–3Potter Stewart
• Eastland v. United States Servicemen's Fund
  421 U.S. 491Decided May 27, 19758–1Warren E. Burger
• Bigelow v. VirginiaLaw held unconstitutional
  421 U.S. 809Decided June 16, 19757–2Harry A. Blackmun
• Cort v. Ash
  422 U.S. 66Decided June 17, 19759–0William J. Brennan Jr.

See all

Source: Supreme Court Database, 2026 Release 01 (data file dated September 8, 2026). Imported into CaseTrail November 5, 2026. Coverage: decisions from the 1946 through 2025 Terms. Methodology · Report an error