Bates v. State Bar of Arizona 433 U.S. 350 (1977)

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BATES v. STATE BAR OF ARIZONA 433 U.S. 350 (1977)

In 1976 two Phoenix lawyers ran newspaper advertisements offering "routine" legal services for "very reasonable" prices. A 5–4 Supreme Court declared here that the first amendment protected this form of commercial speech. The majority rejected a number of "countervailing state interests" urged against the freedom of speech protection, relying on virginia state board of pharmacy v. virginia citizen'sconsumer council (1976). The dissenters strenuously objected to the majority's equating intangible services—which they found impossible to standardize and rarely "routine"—with "prepackaged prescription drugs." The Court rejected, 9–0, a contention that the sherman antitrust act barred any restraint on such advertising.

David Gordon
(1986)

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