Smith v. Daily Mail Publishing Co.

We granted certiorari to consider whether a West Virginia statute violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution by making it a crime for a newspaper to publish, without the written approval of the juvenile court, the name of any youth charged as a juvenile offender.(1)

The challenged West Virginia statute provides:

“[N]or shall the name of any child, in connection with any proceedings under this chapter, be published in any newspaper without a written order of the court. ...” W. Va. Code §49-7-3 (1976);

and:

“A person who violates ... a provision of this chapter…