UNITED STATES, et al. v. AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, INC., et al.
Supreme Court Cases
539 U.S. 194 (2003)
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Whether an appeals court erred in invalidating in its entirety a Washington statute aimed at preventing and punishing the publication of obscene materials.
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Whether a federal law that prohibits a photographic color reproduction of United States currency on the cover of a magazine is unconstitutional either on its face or as applied to a magazine publisher.
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Whether Section 399 of the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, as amended by the Public Broadcasting Amendments Act of 1981, which forbids any "non-commercial educational broadcasting station which receives a grant from the Corporation" to "engage in editorializing," violate the First Amendment.
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Whether the denial of a permit to protestors requesting to camp out in Washington D.C. parks, according to Park Service regulations, violated the protestors' First Amendment rights.
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Whether an interschool mail system's grant of mail access to the Perry Education Association but no other union violated the First Amendment's free speech guarantee.
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Whether a New York criminal statute that prohibits persons from knowingly promoting sexual performances by children under the age of 16 by distributing material which depicts such performances violates the First Amendment.
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Whether a New York statute barring topless dancing in venues licensed to serve liquor violates the First Amendment.
HEFFRON, SECRETARY AND MANAGER OF THE MINNESOTA STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY BOARD OF MANAGERS, et al. v. INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR KRISHNA CONSCIOUSNESS, INC., et al.
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Whether a state, consistent with the First and Fourteenth Amendments, may confine religious organizations wishing to sell and distribute religious literature at a state fair to an assigned location within the fairgrounds.
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Whether a New Jersey ordinance prohibiting all live entertainment, including nonobscene nude dancing, was overbroad and violated rights of free expression guaranteed by the First Amendment
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Decided:
CONSOLIDATED EDISON COMPANY OF NEW YORK, INC. v. PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION OF NEW YORK
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Whether an order of appellee New York Public Service Commission that prohibits the inclusion by appellant and other public utility companies in monthly bills of inserts discussing controversial issues of public policy directly infringes the freedom of speech protected by the First and Fourteenth Amendments and thus is invalid.
CAREY, STATE'S ATTORNEY OF COOK COUNTY v. BROWN et al.
Decided:
Whether a state statute that bars picketing of residences or dwellings, but exempts from its prohibition "the peaceful picketing of a place of employment involved in a labor dispute" violates the First Amendment because it is not content-neutral.
VANCE et al. v. UNIVERSAL AMUSEMENT CO., INC., et al.
Decided:
Whether a Texas statute authorizing injunctions against exhibition of obscene motions pictures violated the First Amendment's bar on prior restraints because it authorized temporary injunctions of indefinite duration.
FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION v. PACIFICA FOUNDATION et al.
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Whether a broadcast of patently offensive words dealing with sex and excretion may be regulated because of its content.
PINKUS, DBA ROSSLYN NEWS CO. et al. v. UNITED STATES
Decided:
Whether court instructions in a case tried under pre-Miller guidelines could properly include children and sensitive persons within the defintion of the community by whose standards obscenity is to be judged.
WARD v. ILLINOIS
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Whether a conviction for selling sado-masochistic materials under an Illinois obscenity statute violated the First Amendment because the statute was overbroad.
SPLAWN v. CALIFORNIA
Decided:
SMITH v. UNITED STATES
Decided:
Whether "community standards" of the state of Iowa can be defined by state legislatures so as to be applicable in federal obscenity law.
MARKS et al. v. UNITED STATES
Decided:
Whether the standards announced in Miller v. California (1973) are to be applied retroactively to the potential detriment of a defendant in a criminal case.
YOUNG, MAYOR OF DETROIT, et al. v. AMERICAN MINI THEATRES, INC., et al.
Decided:
Whether a zoning ordinance classification based on a difference between motion picture theaters which exhibit sexually explicit "adult" movies and those which do not is unconstitutional because it is based on the content of communication protected by the First Amendment.
MCKINNEY v. ALABAMA
Decided:
Whether the prosecution of a bookseller charged with selling "obscene mailable matter" violated the First Amendment because the trial did not allow him to contest the obscenity of the magazines.
HUDGENS v. NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD et al.
Decided:
Whether striking union members have a First Amendment free speech right to picket inside a shopping center in order to advertise their strike against the owner of one of the stores.
ERZNOZNIK v. CITY OF JACKSONVILLE
Decided:
Whether a Florida ordinance making it a public nuisance and a punishable offense for a drive-in movie theater to exhibit films containing nudity, when the screen is visible from a public street or place, violates the First Amendment guarantee to freedom of speech and expression.
SOUTHEASTERN PROMOTIONS, LTD. v. CONRAD et al.
Decided:
Whether the denial of a city facility for a production of "Hair" because it contained "obscene" conduct constituted a prior restraint and violated the First Amendment.
JENKINS v. GEORGIA
Decided:
Whether the film "Carnal Knowledge" was obscene and hence not entitled to the protection for free expression that is guaranteed by the First and Fourteenth Amendments.
HAMLING et al. v. UNITED STATES
Decided:
Whether a conviction under federal law banning mailing of obscene material failed to meet the "adequate notice" and "community standards" guidelines, among others, laid out in Miller v. California (1973).
ALEXANDER et al. v. VIRGINIA
Decided:
Whether RICO's forfeiture provisions constituted a prior restraint on speech and were overbroad thereby violating the First Amendment.
HELLER v. NEW YORK
Decided:
Whether the seizure of a sexually explicit film and arrest of the theater's manager after the film was screened, with no prior adversary hearing, violated the First Amendment.
ROADEN v. KENTUCKY
Decided:
UNITED STATES v. 12 200-FT. REELS OF SUPER 8MM. FILM et al. (PALADINI, CLAIMANT)
Decided:
Whether a forfeiture of "obscene" movies under the Tariff Act. prohibiting the importation of obscene material, should be dismissed because the movies were for private use and possession only.
UNITED STATES v. ORITO
Decided:
Whether a statute punishing knowing transportation of obscene material was overbroad because it failed to distinguish between public and nonpublic transportation, violating the First Amendment.
KAPLAN v. CALIFORNIA
Decided:
Whether the proprietor of an adult bookstore's conviction for selling a nonillustrated "obscene" book could be sustained under the First Amendment.
MILLER v. CALIFORNIA
Decided:
Whether, consistent with the First Amendment, unsolicited mass mailings to advertise books containing explicit pictures of sexual activities can be criminally prosecuted.
PAPISH v. BOARD OF CURATORS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI et al.
Decided:
Whether a university that expelled a student for reprinting an offensive cartoon and a profane article headline in a campus newspaper violated the 1st Amendment.
CALIFORNIA et al. v. LARUE et al.
Decided:
PERRY et al. v. SINDERMANN
Decided:
Whether the respondents lack of a contractual or tenure right to reemployment, taken alone, defeats his claim that the non-renewal of his contract violated the First Amendment and whether the college refused to renew the teaching contract based on a impermissible basisas a reprisal for the exercise of the constitutionally guaranteed right to free speech.
POLICE DEPARTMENT OF THE CITY OF CHICAGO et al. v. MOSLEY
Decided:
Does a Chicago city ordinance which bans non-union picketing within 150 feet of a school building violate both the First Amendment and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment?
KOIS v. WISCONSIN
Decided:
RABE v. WASHINGTON
Decided:
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."
UNITED STATES v. REIDEL
Decided:
Whether a federal law barring use of the mail for delivering obscene matter to persons over 21 was unconstitutional under the First Amendment.
UNITED STATES v. THIRTY-SEVEN (37) PHOTOGRAPHS (LUROS, CLAIMANT)
Decided:
Whether the seizure of 37 photographs by customs agents under a federal law prohibiting importation of obscene material violated the First Amendment.
BLOUNT, POSTMASTER GENERAL, et al. v. RIZZI, DBA THE MAIL BOX
Decided:
Whether a federal statute allowing the postmaster general to censor obscene mailings lacked adequate safeguards to avoid inhibiting expression protected under the First Amendment.
HOYT et al. v. MINNESOTA
Decided:
WALKER v. OHIO
Decided:
BLOSS et al. v. DYKEMA
Decided:
ROWAN, DBA AMERICAN BOOK SERVICE, et al. v. UNITED STATES POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT et al.
Decided:
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.
CAIN et al. v. KENTUCKY
Decided:
CARLOS v. NEW YORK
Decided:
STANLEY v. GEORGIA
Decided:
Whether the First Amendment prohibits criminal sanction for private possession of material deemed legally obscene.
HENRY v. LOUISIANA
Decided:
LEE ART THEATRE, INC. v. VIRGINIA
Decided:
Whether judge issuing warrant to seize allegedly obscene motion pictures acted using the proper constitutional safeguards when issuing such warrant.
RABECK v. NEW YORK
Decided:
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
Decided:
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
Decided:
I.M. AMUSEMENT CORP. v. OHIO.
Decided:
CHANCE v. CALIFORNIA
Decided:
POTOMAC NEWS CO. v. UNITED STATES
Decided:
CONNER v. CITY OF HAMMOND
Decided:
FRIEDMAN v. NEW YORK
Decided:
SCHACKMAN et al. v. CALIFORNIA
Decided:
SHEPERD et al. v. NEW YORK
Decided:
ADAY et al. v. UNITED STATES
Decided:
ROSENBLOOM v. VIRGINIA
Decided:
RATNER et al. v. CALIFORNIA
Decided:
AVANSINO et al. v. NEW YORK
Decided:
BOOKS, INC. v. UNITED STATES
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:
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.
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.
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.
TRALINS v. GERSTEIN, STATE ATTORNEY
Decided:
JACOBELLIS v. OHIO
Decided:
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.
BANTAM BOOKS, INC., et al. v. SULLIVAN et al.
Decided:
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.
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.
ROTH v. UNITED STATES
Decided:
"The dispositive question is whether obscenity is utterance within the area of protected speech and press."
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.
JOSEPH BURSTYN, INC. v. WILSON, COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION OF NEW YORK, et al.
Decided:
Whether a New York Education Law that prohibited the commercial showing of any motion picture film without a license, and authorized denial of a license on a censors conclusion that a film was "sacrilegious," violated the First Amendment. Could the New York Board of Regents ban Roberto Rossellinis The Miracle under regulations barring "sacrilegious" films?
PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA ET AL. v. POLLAK ET AL.
Decided:
Whether the operation of a radio service broadcasting music, commercials and announcements on public buses violates the freedoms of speech and privacy guaranteed to citizens by the First and Fifth Amendments to the Constitution.
UNITED STATES v. ALPERS
Decided:
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.
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?