In Walters et al. v. City of St. Louis et al., the U.S Supreme Court dealt with a case concerning racial discrimination in housing policies in 1953. The plaintiffs, African-American residents of St.Louis, challenged the city's enforcement of racially restrictive covenants—private agreements between property owners not to sell or rent to certain races—arguing that it violated their Fourteenth Amendment rights to equal protection under law. However, the court ruled against them on technical grounds without addressing the constitutionality issue directly; they held that since these were private contracts and not state actions, there was no violation of constitutional rights involved as per existing jurisprudence at that time (the "state action" doctrine). This decision upheld segregationist practices until later cases like Shelley v Kraemer (1948) overturned this precedent by ruling such covenants unenforceable due to their discriminatory nature.

In the dissenting opinion for Walters et al. v. City of St. Louis et al., Justice Douglas argued that the majority's decision to uphold a city ordinance requiring picketers to obtain a permit from the police chief was an infringement on First Amendment rights, specifically freedom of speech and assembly. He contended that such discretionary power given to law enforcement could easily lead to abuse or discrimination against certain groups or viewpoints, thereby undermining democratic principles and civil liberties. Furthermore, he believed this ruling contradicted previous Supreme Court decisions which had established clear boundaries for government regulation of public protests and demonstrations in order not to infringe upon constitutional freedoms.