Then, not yet knowing to whom Lewis was speaking, Gault said, "I heard him, ahem, using some pretty vulgar language... so I – all I did was walk out, took the phone off him, hung it up, and told him – I said, 'Hey, there's the door.

On Gault's release, his mother received a note from the superintendent of the detention home informing her that "Judge McGhee has set Monday June 15, 1964 at 11:00 A.M. as the date and time for further Hearings on Gerald's delinquency."

"[8] Had Gault been convicted as an adult for a violation of ARS § 13-377, the punishment was a maximum prison sentence of two months and a fine of $5 to $50.

In particular, Gault's parents contested McGhee's claim that the teenager had admitted in court to making any of the alleged lewd statements.

[12]The first law McGhee mentioned was Arizona Revised Statutes (ARS) § 13-377, which made a misdemeanor of using "vulgar, abusive or obscene language" while "in the presence or hearing of any woman or child.

"[13] The alternate criterion McGhee cited was that of ARS § 8-201(6)(d): "A child who habitually so deports himself as to injure or endanger the morals or health of himself or others.

[14] The case was appealed to the US Supreme Court, where it was argued by NYU Law professor Norman Dorsen, a former Harlan clerk (OT '57) who later became president of the ACLU.