Boos v. Barry

Boos v. Barry, 485 U.S. 312 (1988), was a First Amendment rights case before the United States Supreme Court. The plaintiffs, a group protesting the Contra War and the jailing of Andrei Sakharov, challenged a District of Columbia code forbidding the display within 500 feet of an embassy of any sign that tends to bring the foreign government in question into "public odium" or "public disrepute."

The U.S. Supreme Court found the "display clause" of the code banning the display of certain protest signs to be facially unconstitutional, as the U.S. government did not have a compelling interest in protecting foreign governments from insults. However, the court maintained the constitutionality of a "congregation clause" of the code requiring protesters to obey any police dispersal orders.