In this case, the ACLU represented two Iranian students, Farzad Ghafari and Homayoon Majd, who were exercising their right to protest outside of the Iranian Consulate in San Francisco in 1976. The two students, both Iranian nationals and members of the Iranian Students Association (I.S.A.), were both vigorously opposed the the Iranian government at the time. However, they obscured their identities while protesting by placing leaflets between their glasses and their faces. They were arrested for violating s arrested for violating Penal Code section 650a, This 1923 statute makes it a misdemeanor "to appear on any street or highway, or in other public places or any place open to view by the general public, with his face partially or completely concealed by means of a mask or other regalia or paraphernalia, with intent thereby to conceal his identity." The wearing of fun or playful masks "in good faith" is not prohibited. The court finds this statute overbroad and void for vagueness, in addition to denying equal protection.

Of this concealment, the court writes, "...they are fearful that if their identity became known as I.S.A. members and demonstrators, retaliatory measures of an unpleasant nature may be taken against them here and against their relatives in Iran by agents of the Iranian government." The court, defending the students rights to "freedom of speech, peaceful assembly and free association" as being at the very center of a democratic society. The People, as defendants, erroneously claim that the students were about the "sack" the Embassy, which is untrue.

The court, which exonerates the students, discounts the idea that the mere presence of masked people in public will necessarily lead to violence and state: "If, in a given situation, those fears prove justified, narrowly drawn statutes exist to protect legitimate state interests." The court protects anonymous appearances in public where these appearances concern the exercising of First Amendment rights.