In Watchtower Bible & Tract Soc'y of N.Y., Inc. v. Vill. of Stratton, 536 U.S. 150 (2002), an 8-1 U.S. Supreme Court invalidated a village ordinance making it a misdemeanor to engage in door-to-door advocacy without first registering with the mayor and receiving a permit violates the First Amendment. The Court considered this facial challenge to door-to-door canvassing regulation not only as it applies to religious proselytizing, but also to anonymous political speech and the distribution of handbills, and held it to be unconstitutional.
Chief Justice William Rehnquist filed a lone dissent.