Cite as: 512 U. S. 753 (1994)
Opinion of Scalia, J.
gathering that " '[i]f we catch any of you going in any of them racist stores, we're gonna break your damn neck.' " Ibid. In connection with the boycott, there were marches and picketing (often by small children). "Store watchers" were posted outside boycotted stores to identify those who traded, and their names were read aloud at meetings of the Clai-borne County NAACP and published in a mimeographed paper. The chancellor found that those persons were branded traitors, called demeaning names, and socially ostracized. Some had shots fired at their houses, a brick was thrown through a windshield, and a garden damaged. Other evidence showed that persons refusing to observe the boycott were beaten, robbed, and publicly humiliated (by spanking).
The merchants brought suit against two groups involved in organizing the boycott and numerous individuals. The trial court found tort violations, violations of a state statute prohibiting secondary boycotts, and state antitrust violations. It issued a broad permanent injunction against the boycotters, enjoining them from stationing "store watchers" at the plaintiffs' business premises; from persuading any person to withhold patronage; from using demeaning and obscene language to or about any person because of his patronage; from picketing or patrolling the premises of any of the respondents; and from using violence against any person or inflicting damage upon any real or personal property. Id., at 893. The Mississippi Supreme Court upheld the assessment of liability and the injunction, but solely on the tort theory, saying that " '[i]f any of these factors—force, violence, or threats— is present, then the boycott is illegal regardless of whether it is primary, secondary, economical, political, social or other.' " Id., at 895.
The legal analysis of this Court proceeded along the following lines:
"[T]he boycott . . . took many forms. [It] was launched at a meeting of the local branch of the NAACP.
801
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