First Amendment Commons^™

A Critique Of The Recent Supreme Court Obscenity Decisions, Herald Price Fahringer, Michael J. Brown

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Obscenity '73: Something Old, A Little Bit New, Quite A Bit Borrowed, But Nothing Blue

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

United States V. Orito, Lewis F. Powell Jr.

Supreme Court Case Files

No abstract provided.

The Obscenity Terms Of The Court, O. John Rogge

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

Obscenity -- Federal Statutes Prohibiting Importation And Mail Distribution Of Obscene Materials Do Not Violate First Amendment, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Near the end of the 1970-71 term, the Supreme Court considered two cases, United States v. Reidell and United States v. Thirty-Seven (37) Photographs, in which constitutional challenges were raised against federal statutes regulating the distribution and importation of obscene materials. These challenges were engendered by the apparent irreconcilability of the Court's decisions in Roth v. United States and Stanley v. Georgia. In Roth, the Court held that obscenity is not within the scope of first amendment protection for speech and press. In Stanley, however, a first amendment right to possess obscene materials in one's home was recognized, and the …

Constitutional Law--Obscenity--The Right To An Adversary Hearing On The Issue Of Obscenity Prior To The Seizure Of Furtively Distributed Films, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Note will discuss the procedural safeguards that must be provided when allegedly obscene materials are seized prior to distribution. The discussion will emphasize a consideration of the question whether the procedural requirements with respect to the seizure of printed materials are also applicable to the seizure of films, particularly those films that are being or are intended to be furtively distributed.

Obscenity, 1971: The Rejuvination Of State Power And The Return To Roth, Dwight L. Teeter Jr., Don R. Pember

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

A Requiem For Requiems: The Supreme Court At The Bar Of Reality, Stanley K. Laughlin Jr.

Michigan Law Review

It is true that the test set out in Roth v. United States is moribund. In a sense it was stillborn. While five Justices, only one of whom remains on the Court, joined in the majority opinion in Roth, that case only adumbrated certain considerations that later were forged into what has come to be known as the Roth test. No sooner did the forging process begin than the Court became fragmented on this issue, and a majority of the Justices has never since concurred in the test-certainly not in a compatible formulation of it. Today, it is not …

Book Notes, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Book Notes --

The Strength of Government--By McGeorge Bundy Cambridge:Harvard University Press, 1968. Pp. xii, 107. $3.75.

Towards a Global Federalism-- By William 0. Douglas. New York: New York University Press, 1968. Pp. xi, 177, $7.95.

Democracy, Dissent, and Disorder: The Issues and the Law-- By Robert F. Drinan New York: The Seabury Press, 1969. Pp. 152,$4.95.

The End of Obscenity: The Trials of Lady Chatterly, Tropic of Cancer, and Fanny Hill --By Charles Rembar New York: Random House, Inc., 1968. Pp. xii, 528. $8.95.

Justice on Trial-- By A.L. Todd Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1964. Pp. ix, …

Requiem For Roth: Obscenity Doctrine Is Changing, David E. Engdahl

Michigan Law Review

In 1957, the Supreme Court decided Roth v. United States and Alberts v. California, and thereby commenced what has proved to be one of the most perplexing and politically sensitive tasks the Court has ever undertaken-determining the constitutional limitations on the power of state and federal governments to regulate obscenity. After twelve years of decisions in the obscenity field, the regrettable truth is that "no stable approach to the obscenity problem has yet been devised by [the] Court." The unreconciled conflicts among the several opinions of Supreme Court Justices ·written since 1957, and the new uncertainties created by the …

The Second Front: Free Expression Versus Individual Dignity, George C. Haimbaugh Jr.

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Obscene Literature, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Obscene Literature

In 1959 the United States Supreme Court in Smith v. California'held a city and county ordinance unconstitutional for failure to require scienter on the part of a defendant. That ordinance, like many other ordinances and state statutes, subjected a bookseller to criminal prosecution for the sale of obscene literature regardless of whether he knew that it was obscene. The Court reasoned that such an ordinance would result in a bookseller's refusal to sell many publications which would not be legally suppressible but which the seller suspected of being obscene, perhaps without having read them. This self-censorship would constitute …

Ernst & Schwartz: Censorship: The Search For The Obscene, Erwin B. Ellmann

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Censorship: The Search for the Obscene By Morris L. Ernst and Alan U. Schwartz

A Blueprint For Censorship Of Obscene Material: Standards For Procedural Due Process, John A. Luchsinger

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

Constitutional Law - Motion Picture Censorship - Artistic Merit Of Film As Whole Not Sufficient To Redeem Obscene Parts, Christopher J. Clark

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

Paul & Schwartz: Federal Censorship: Obscenity In The Mail, Harry Kalven Jr.

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Federal Censorship: Obscenity in the Mail. By James C. N. Paul and Murray L. Schwartz.

The Legislative Process And The Rule Of Law: Attempts To Legislate Taste In Moral And Political Beliefs, Samuel D. Estep

Michigan Law Review

In a nutshell, the topic of this paper is "Comstockery and the Bowdlerizing of Ideas." The thesis here asserted is that the Rule of Law is violated when legislatures succumb to modern attempts by the often pathologically-motivated zealot legally to freeze current tastes in moral and political beliefs. The relationship between taste statutes and the seemingly esoteric topic, "The Legislative Process and the Rule of Law," is based on the premise that the maximum possible degree of intellectual freedom for each individual is an essential ingredient in the legal system of a civilized society.

Constitutional Law - Obscenity - The Evolving Definition Of Obscenity, Michael R. Bradley

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

Constitutional Law--Freedom Of Speech And Press--Determination Of Obscenity, J. G. V. M.

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Constitutional Law - Freedom Of Press - Validity Of Motion Picture Licensing Statute, Dean L. Berry S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The distributor of the motion picture "Lady Chatterley's Lover" applied to the Motion Picture Division of the New York State Education Department for a license, required by New York law, for public presentation of the film. The application was denied on the ground the film was "immoral" within the meaning of the licensing statute. On review, the Board of Regents approved this determination, but on appeal the state supreme court reversed the Board. A divided court of appeals reversed the supreme court, holding that the contents of the film met the statutory definition of "immoral." On appeal to the Supreme …

"Congress Shall Make No Law…":Ii, O. John Rogge

Michigan Law Review

The framers of the federal bill of rights by the First and Tenth Amendments sought to deny Congress power over utterances unless they were connected with criminal conduct other than advocacy. Any power over such utterances was to reside in the states. However, the Supreme Court departed from the framers' intent.

One of the factors in this development was the emergence of an undefined federal police power. This occurred largely under the commerce and postal clauses. It began over a century ago. As early as 1838 Congress passed a law requiring the installation of safety devices upon steam vessels. Beginning …

"Congress Shall Make No Law..."*, O. John Rogge

Michigan Law Review

It is the position of the writer that, at least so far as Congress is concerned, speech is as free as thought, and that unless and until speech becomes a part of a course of conduct which Congress can restrain or regulate no federal legislative power over it exists. State power, despite the Fourteenth Amendment, may be somewhat more extensive. Certainly the framers of the First Amendment intended that it should be. This article will deal with federal power over speech.

St. John-Stevas: Obscenity And The Law, William B. Lockhart

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Obscenity and the Law . By Norman St. John-Stevas

Constitutional Law--Obscenity, J. E. J.

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Constitutional Law - Due Process - Validity Of Refusal To Permit The Showing Of A Motion Picture On The Grounds Of Obscenity, Donald F. Oosterhouse S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

A Chicago municipal ordinance made it unlawful to exhibit any motion picture without first having secured a permit from the Commissioner of Police. The commissioner is required to issue the permit unless he finds the picture "immoral or obscene. . .. " On these grounds he refused to permit exhibition of "The Miracle." Plaintiffs brought suit to have the ordinance declared unconstitutional and to restrain enforcement of the prohibition on the picture. The trial court granted the relief asked. On appeal, held, reversed and remanded to determine if the motion picture is obscene. A prior restraint on the exhibition …

Constitutional Law - Censorship Of Obscence Literature, Donald M. Wilkinson, Jr. S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The right to a free expression of ideas, without interference from governmental authorities, is inherent in the very nature of a democracy. On the other hand, it is also clear that the greater interests of the state at large will conflict with certain forms of expression, and in such circumstances obviously the former must prevail. It is the purpose of this comment to discuss the constitutional limitations on the governmental suppression of literature on grounds of obscenity.

Postal Power-Exclusion Of Periodical Publication From Second- Class Mailing Privilege-The Esquire Case, John R. Dykema

Michigan Law Review

Respondent is the publisher of the well-known monthly periodical Esquire. In l 933 it was granted a second-class mailing permit pursuant to section 14 of the Classification Act of 1879. In 1943 the then Postmaster General, Frank C. Walker, issued a citation to respondent to show cause why the permit should not be suspended or revoked, on the theory that the magazine did not qualify under the fourth condition of the act, relevant portions of which read as follows: "It must be originated and published for the dissemination of information of a public character, or devoted to literature, the sciences, …

Freedom Of The Press-Administrative Censorship-The "Esquire" Decision, John B. Waite

Michigan Law Review

One of the most important cases before the courts was decided by the Circuit Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia on June 4--a case involving asserted absolute discretion in a government official to determine the right to second-class mail privileges, and thereby, indirectly, to censor the press. The background facts of the case are essential to appreciation of its importance.