NEW YORK v. FERBER
Supreme Court Cases
458 U.S. 747 (1982)
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RABE v. WASHINGTON
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Whether a Washington drive-in movie operator could be punished for violating obscenity laws because passersby and minors might be exposed to a movie which was obscene only "in the context of its exhibition."
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Whether a federal law barring use of the mail for delivering obscene matter to persons over 21 was unconstitutional under the First Amendment.
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Whether the seizure of 37 photographs by customs agents under a federal law prohibiting importation of obscene material violated the First Amendment.
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Whether a federal statute allowing the postmaster general to censor obscene mailings lacked adequate safeguards to avoid inhibiting expression protected under the First Amendment.
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WALKER v. OHIO
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BLOSS et al. v. DYKEMA
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Whether a statute under which an individual can require a mailer to stop all future mailings that the person "believes to be erotically arousing or sexually provocative" violates the mailer's rights of free speech and due process.
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CARLOS v. NEW YORK
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BRANDENBURG v. OHIO
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Whether an Ohio law prohibiting speech that advocates for illegal activities violated Brandenburg's First Amendment rights.
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Whether the First Amendment prohibits criminal sanction for private possession of material deemed legally obscene.
HENRY v. LOUISIANA
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LEE ART THEATRE, INC. v. VIRGINIA
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Whether judge issuing warrant to seize allegedly obscene motion pictures acted using the proper constitutional safeguards when issuing such warrant.
RABECK v. NEW YORK
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Whether a New York statute prohibiting the sale of "magazines which would appeal to the lust of persons under the age of eighteen years" is unconstitutionally vague and violates the First Amendment.
GINSBERG v. NEW YORK
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Did the portion of New York Penal Law that made it unlawful to knowingly sell minors nude photos and magazines that contain such photos violate the 1st and 14th Amendments?
FELTON et al. v. CITY OF PENSACOLA
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I.M. AMUSEMENT CORP. v. OHIO.
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CHANCE v. CALIFORNIA
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POTOMAC NEWS CO. v. UNITED STATES
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CONNER v. CITY OF HAMMOND
Decided:
ADAY et al. v. UNITED STATES
Decided:
FRIEDMAN v. NEW YORK
Decided:
SCHACKMAN et al. v. CALIFORNIA
Decided:
SHEPERD et al. v. NEW YORK
Decided:
ROSENBLOOM v. VIRGINIA
Decided:
BOOKS, INC. v. UNITED STATES
Decided:
RATNER et al. v. CALIFORNIA
Decided:
AVANSINO et al. v. NEW YORK
Decided:
KENEY v. NEW YORK
Decided:
COBERT v. NEW YORK
Decided:
REDRUP v. NEW YORK
Decided:
Whether the conviction of a New York newsstand clerk for selling two "obscene" paperback books violated First Amendment free speech guarantees.
REDMOND et ux. v. UNITED STATES
Decided:
A BOOK NAMED 'JOHN CLELAND'S MEMOIRS OF A WOMAN OF PLEASURE' et al. v. ATTORNEY GENERAL OF MASSACHUSETTS
Decided:
Whether the book Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure, commonly called Fanny Hill, is legally obscene.
GINZBURG et al. v. UNITED STATES
Decided:
Whether three publications that dealt openly with sexual matter were legally obscene under the Roth v. United States (1957) test and without First Amendment protection.
MISHKIN v. NEW YORK
Decided:
Whether the conviction under New York law of a book distributor for possessing and publishing "obscene" books of sadism and masochism violated his freedom of speech.
JACOBELLIS v. OHIO
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Whether the conviction of a manager of a movie theater for "possessing and exhibiting an allegedly obscene film" violated the free speech guarantee of the First Amendment.
TRALINS v. GERSTEIN, STATE ATTORNEY
Decided:
BANTAM BOOKS, INC., et al. v. SULLIVAN et al.
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Whether a state commission with broad discretion to define obscenity, and that allowed police enforcement of obscenity laws, was constitutional under the First Amendment.
MANUAL ENTERPRISES, INC., et al. v. DAY, POSTMASTER GENERAL
Decided:
Whether an injunction against the mailing of several "obscene" magazines featuring photos of nude male models violated the First Amendment.
SMITH v. CALIFORNIA
Decided:
Whether a Los Angeles city ordinance punishing the sales of books later determined to be obscene even if the bookseller did not know the contents of the book violated due process and free speech guarantees.
KINGSLEY INTERNATIONAL PICTURES CORP. v. REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK
Decided:
Whether a New York law denying licenses to show movies which "alluringly portrays adultery as proper behavior" is viewpont discrimination and violates the First Amendment.
ROTH v. UNITED STATES
Decided:
"The dispositive question is whether obscenity is utterance within the area of protected speech and press."
KINGSLEY BOOKS, INC., et al. v. BROWN, CORPORATION COUNSEL
Decided:
Whether an injunction on sale of obscene booklets and destruction of such booklets amounted to prior restraint by the State, violating the First and Fourteenth Amendments.
BUTLER v. MICHIGAN
Decided:
Whether a Michigan statute punishing sales of books "tending to the corruption of the morals of youth" is so vague as to violate the Fourteenth Amendment's due process clause.
SUPERIOR FILMS, INC. v. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION OF OHIO, DIVISION OF FILM CENSORSHIP, HISSONG, SUPERINTENDENT
Decided:
Whether an Ohio statute forbidding the commercial showing of any motion picture film without a license constitutes a prior restraint and is unconstitutional under the First Amendment.
BEAUHARNAIS v. ILLINOIS
Decided:
Whether the distribution of a racist leaflet, in violation of a state criminal libel statute, was protected under the First Amendment.
UNITED STATES v. ALPERS
Decided:
GIBONEY ET AL. v. EMPIRE STORAGE & ICE CO.
Decided:
"This case . . . raises questions concerning the constitutional power of a state to apply its antitrade restraint law to labor union activities, and to enjoin union members from peaceful picketing carried on as an essential and inseparable part of a course of conduct which is in violation of the state law. The picketing occurred in Kansas City, Missouri. The injunction was issued by a Missouri state court."
WINTERS v. NEW YORK
Decided:
Whether a New York statute prohibiting publications of violent materials "principally made up of criminal news, police reports, or accounts of criminal deeds, or pictures, or stories of deeds of bloodshed, lust or crime," is overly vague and violates the freedom of speech guaranteed by the First Amendment.
CHAPLINSKY v. NEW HAMPSHIRE
Decided:
Does the New Hampshire statute violate Chaplinsky's First and Fourteenth Amendment rights?
MUTUAL FILM CORPORATION v. INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION OF OHIO
Decided:
Do the constitutional protections of freedom of expression, including those of the Ohio Constitution, extend to motion pictures?