In Southeastern Promotions, Ltd. v. Conrad et al., the U.S Supreme Court ruled in favor of Southeastern Promotions, a company that had been denied use of a municipal auditorium for their production of the musical "Hair". The Chattanooga Board claimed that they rejected the request due to concerns about obscenity within the play's content. However, this decision was made without any formal hearing or judicial determination on whether "Hair" could be legally defined as obscene under constitutional law standards. The Supreme Court found this action violated First Amendment rights by constituting prior restraint - censorship imposed before an expression takes place - and thus deemed it unconstitutional. They stated that even though public venues have discretion over programming decisions, these cannot infringe upon free speech rights unless there is a clear legal justification such as proven obscenity or incitement to violence.

In the dissenting opinion for Southeastern Promotions, Ltd. v. Conrad et al., Justice Rehnquist argued that the majority's decision failed to properly consider the context of a public forum and its inherent limitations on free speech rights. He contended that not all venues are suitable for every type of expression, particularly in this case where a sexually explicit musical was proposed to be performed at a venue regularly used by children and families. He believed it was within the government's right to deny use of such facilities for content deemed inappropriate or offensive without violating First Amendment rights. Furthermore, he disagreed with the majority’s view about prior restraint doctrine application in this case as he felt it did not apply because there wasn't an attempt to censor or suppress information before publication but rather regulate its location due to community standards.