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Opinion of the Court.

339 U.S.

to effectuate gives ground for its disallowance. See Dorchy v. Kansas, 272 U. S. 306; Milk Wagon Drivers Union v. Meadowmoor Dairies, Inc., 312 U. S. 287; Hotel and Restaurant Employees' International Alliance v. Wisconsin E. R. B., 315 U. S. 437; Carpenters & Joiners Union v. Ritter's Cafe, 315 U. S. 722; Giboney v. Empire Storage & Ice Co., 336 U. S. 490. "A state is not required to tolerate in all places and all circumstances even peaceful picketing by an individual." Bakery & Pastry Drivers & Helpers Local v. Wohl, supra at 775.

The constitutional boundary line between the competing interests of society involved in the use of picketing cannot be established by general phrases. Picketing when not in numbers that of themselves carry a threat of violence may be a lawful means to a lawful end. See American Steel Foundries v. Tri-City Central Trades Council, 257 U. S. 184, 206–07. The California Supreme Court suggested a distinction between picketing to promote discrimination, as here, and picketing against discrimination: "It may be assumed for the purposes of this decision, without deciding, that if such discrimination exists, picketing to protest it would not be for an unlawful objective." 32 Cal. 2d at 855, 198 P. 2d at 888. We cannot construe the Due Process Clause as precluding California from securing respect for its policy against involuntary employment on racial lines by prohibiting systematic picketing that would subvert such policy. See Giboney v. Empire Storage & Ice Co., supra.

Fourth. The fact that California's policy is expressed by the judicial organ of the State rather than by the legislature we have repeatedly ruled to be immaterial.*

*The range of policy in proscribing or permitting picketing for various ends is illustrated by a recent bill against picketing of courts passed by the New York State Legislature but vetoed by Governor Dewey. See N. Y. Times, Apr. 11, 1950, p. 21, col. 1.

460

Opinion of the Court.

Castillo v. McConnico, 168 U. S. 674, 684; Hebert v. Louisiana, 272 U. S. 312, 316; Nashville, C. & St. L. R. Co. v. Browning, 310 U. S. 362, 369; Skiriotes v. Florida, 313 U. S. 69, 79; Snowden v. Hughes, 321 U. S. 1, 11. For the Fourteenth Amendment leaves the States free to distribute the powers of government as they will between their legislative and judicial branches. Dreyer v. Illinois, 187 U. S. 71, 83-84; Soliah v. Heskin, 222 U. S. 522, 524; Erie R. Co. v. Board of Public Util. Comm'rs, 254 U. S. 394, 413; Prentis v. Atlantic Coast Line Co., 211 U. S. 210, 225; Keller v. Potomac Elec. Power Co., 261 U. S. 428, 443. "[R]ights under that amendment turn on the power of the State, no matter by what organ it acts." Missouri v. Dockery, 191 U. S. 165, 170-71.

It is not for this Court to deny to a State the right, or even to question the desirability, of fitting its law "to a concrete situation through the authority given . . to its courts." Milk Wagon Drivers Union v. Meadowmoor Dairies, Inc., supra at 297. It is particularly important to bear this in mind in regard to matters affecting industrial relations which, until recently, have "been left largely to judicial lawmaking and not to legislation." Carpenters & Joiners Union v. Ritter's Cafe, supra at 724. In charging its courts with evolving law instead of formulating policy by statute, California has availed itself of the variety of law-making sources, and has recognized that in our day as in Coke's "the law hath provided several weapons of remedy." Coke, The Compleat Copyholder § 9 in Three Law Tracts (1764). California chose to strike at the discrimination inherent in the quota system by means of the equitable remedy of injunction to protect against unwilling submission to such a system. It is not for this Court to deny to California that choice from among all "the various weapons in the armory of the law." Tigner v. Texas, 310 U. S. 141, 148.

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Opinion of the Court.

339 U.S.

The policy of a State may rely for the common good on the free play of conflicting interests and leave conduct unregulated. Contrariwise, a State may deem it wiser policy to regulate. Regulation may take the form of legislation, e. g., restraint of trade statutes, or be left to the ad hoc judicial process, e. g., common law mode of dealing with restraints of trade. Either method may outlaw an end not in the public interest or merely address itself to the obvious means toward such end. The form the regulation should take and its scope are surely matters of policy and, as such, within a State's choice.

If because of the compulsive features inherent in picketing, beyond the aspect of mere communication as an appeal to reason, a State chooses to enjoin picketing to secure submission to a demand for employment proportional to the racial origin of the then customers of a business, it need not forbid the employer to adopt such a quota system of his own free will. A State is not required to exercise its intervention on the basis of abstract reasoning. The Constitution commands neither logical symmetry nor exhaustion of a principle. "The problems of government are practical ones and may justify, if they do not require, rough accommodations-illogical, it may be, and unscientific." Metropolis Theatre Co. v. Chicago, 228 U. S. 61, 69-70. A State may "direct its law against what it deems the evil as it actually exists without covering the whole field of possible abuses, and it may do so none the less that the forbidden act does not differ in kind from those that are allowed." Central Lumber Co. v. South Dakota, 226 U. S. 157, 160. See also Lindsley v. Natural Carbonic Gas Co., 220 U. S. 61, 81; Keokee Consolidated Coke Co. v. Taylor, 234 U. S. 224, 227; Miller v. Wilson, 236 U. S. 373, 384; Farmers & Merchants Bank v. Federal Reserve Bank, 262 U. S. 649, 661-62; James-Dickinson Farm Mortgage Co. v. Harry, 273 U. S. 119, 125; Sproles v. Binford, 286 U. S. 374, 396; Labor Board v. Jones &

460

Opinion of the Court.

Laughlin Steel Corp., 301 U. S. 1, 46. Lawmaking is essentially empirical and tentative, and in adjudication as in legislation the Constitution does not forbid "cautious advance, step by step, and the distrust of generalities." Carroll v. Greenwich Insurance Co., 199 U. S. 401, 411.

The injunction here was drawn to meet what California deemed the evil of picketing to bring about proportional hiring. We do not go beyond the circumstances of the case. Generalizations are treacherous in the application of large constitutional concepts.

Affirmed.

MR. JUSTICE BLACK and MR. JUSTICE MINTON are of the opinion that this case is controlled by the principles announced in Giboney v. Empire Storage & Ice Co., 336 U. S. 490, and therefore concur in the Court's judgment.

MR. JUSTICE REED, concurring.

I read the opinion of the Supreme Court of California to hold that the pickets sought from Lucky Stores, Inc., discrimination in favor of persons of the Negro race, a discrimination unlawful under California law. Such picketing may be barred by a State. Giboney v. Empire Storage & Ice Co., 336 U. S. 490.

MR. JUSTICE DOUGLAS took no part in the consideration or decision of this case.

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INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, ETC. UNION, LOCAL 309, ET AL. v. HANKE ET AL., DOING BUSINESS AS ATLAS AUTO REBUILD.

NO. 309. CERTIORARI TO THE SUPREME COURT OF
WASHINGTON.*

Argued February 9, 1950.—Decided May 8, 1950.

A business conducted by the owner himself without employees was peacefully picketed by a labor union to compel compliance with a demand for a union shop. Held: A state court injunction against the picketing, challenged as infringing the right of freedom of speech as guaranteed by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, is affirmed. Pp. 471–474, 481.

33 Wash. 2d 646, 666, 207 P. 2d 206, 216, affirmed.

The State Supreme Court in these two cases sustained permanent injunctions against picketing of places of business. 33 Wash. 2d 646, 666, 207 P. 2d 206, 216. This Court granted certiorari. 338 U. S. 903. Affirmed, p. 481.

Samuel B. Bassett argued the cause and filed briefs for petitioners.

J. Will Jones argued the cause for respondents in No. 309. With him on the brief was Clarence L. Gere.

C. M. McCune argued the cause for respondent in No. 364. With him on the brief was Austin E. Griffiths.

J. Albert Woll, Herbert S. Thatcher and James A. Glenn filed a brief for the American Federation of Labor, as amicus curiae, supporting petitioners.

*Together with No. 364, Automobile Drivers & Demonstrators Local Union No. 882 et al. v. Cline, also on certiorari to the same court, argued February 9-10, 1950.

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