In the 1971 case Gooding, Warden v. Wilson, the U.S Supreme Court ruled on a First Amendment issue regarding freedom of speech. The defendant, Johnny Wilson had been convicted under a Georgia statute for using "opprobrious words" and "abusive language." He appealed his conviction arguing that the law was overly broad and violated his First Amendment rights to free speech. The Supreme Court agreed with Wilson in a 5-4 decision stating that because the Georgia statute could potentially punish constitutionally protected speech as well as unprotected speech it was indeed overly broad and therefore unconstitutional. This ruling reinforced protection for offensive or abusive language under certain circumstances within limits set by other court decisions.

In the dissenting opinion for Gooding v. Wilson, Justice Black and Justice Harlan argued that the majority's decision was an overreach of judicial power, asserting that it is not within the Court's purview to decide whether a state law is overly broad unless it has been applied in such a way as to infringe upon constitutionally protected rights. They contended that there was no evidence presented in this case demonstrating Georgia’s “breach of peace” statute had been used or would be used to punish speech protected by the First Amendment. The justices also expressed concern about potential negative impacts on states' abilities to maintain public order if similar laws were invalidated based on hypothetical scenarios rather than actual instances of misuse. They believed this ruling could set a dangerous precedent for future cases involving state statutes.