In the Staub v. City of Baxley case in 1957, the U.S Supreme Court ruled that a city ordinance requiring permits for door-to-door solicitation was unconstitutional. Annie Lee Moss, an African American woman and member of the Communist Party USA, had been convicted under this ordinance after distributing literature without a permit in Baxley, Georgia. The court held that such ordinances violated First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and assembly because they gave local officials arbitrary power to decide who could or couldn't solicit within their jurisdiction based on personal biases or prejudices. This ruling reaffirmed the principle that government cannot restrict expression simply because it disagrees with its message or finds it objectionable.

In the dissenting opinion for Staub v. City of Baxley, Justice Tom C. Clark argued that the majority misinterpreted Georgia's ordinance as a licensing law when it was actually an anti-fraud measure designed to protect citizens from fraudulent solicitation practices. He contended that the city had a legitimate interest in regulating door-to-door solicitations and ensuring public safety and order, which outweighed any potential infringement on First Amendment rights. Furthermore, he disagreed with the majority’s view that this ordinance gave arbitrary power to local officials; instead, he believed there were sufficient procedural safeguards in place to prevent abuse of discretion by these officials. Therefore, according to Justice Clark's interpretation of constitutional law and his understanding of state interests versus individual liberties under First Amendment jurisprudence, he would have upheld Baxley's ordinance as constitutionally valid.