Governments cannot require permits to proselytize, or bar it outright, in public spaces even where those are privately owned. Decided January 7, 1946 (argued December 7, 1945). Opinion of the Court: Hugo Black → go there Dissenting: Reed. Applied: the First Amendment → go there Applied: the Fourteenth Amendment → go there Topic: Freedom of religion. Marsh v. Alabama, 326 U.S. 501 (1946), was a case decided by the US Supreme Court, which ruled that a state trespassing statute could not be used to prevent the distribution of religious materials on a town's sidewalk even though the sidewalk was part of a privately owned company town. The Court based its ruling on the provisions of the First Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment. Wiki link