In the 1987 case of Boos, Waller and Brooker v. Barry, Mayor, District of Columbia et al., the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on a First Amendment issue related to protests near foreign embassies in Washington D.C. The plaintiffs were challenging two provisions of a law that prohibited displaying any sign within 500 feet of an embassy if it tended to bring that country into "public odium" or "public disrepute", and gathering within 500 feet from an embassy for the purpose of intimidating or coercing individuals associated with said embassy. The court held that both provisions violated the First Amendment's guarantee to freedom of speech - one was content-based discrimination because it singled out certain messages based on their content; while other provision was not narrowly tailored enough to serve its intended interest in protecting diplomatic personnel from harassment or intimidation without infringing upon more speech than necessary.

In the dissenting opinion for Boos v. Barry, Justice White argued that the majority's decision to strike down a District of Columbia statute prohibiting display of signs critical of foreign governments near their embassies was incorrect. He contended that this law served significant government interests in maintaining diplomatic relations and ensuring national security, which outweighed any potential infringement on First Amendment rights. Furthermore, he asserted that it was not an unconstitutional content-based restriction because it applied equally to all messages about foreign governments regardless of viewpoint or subject matter. Lastly, he criticized the majority for failing to give due deference to legislative judgment and overstepping its judicial role by invalidating a reasonable regulation aimed at protecting international comity.