Introduction

Pornography is protected speech under the First Amendment; obscenity is not. The point at which pornography goes too far and becomes obscenity is difficult to determine and, in fact, varies from community to community. The Supreme Court ultimately settled on a test that the Court articulated in the famous 1973 case of Miller v. California.

Pornography and Obscenity: Case 1

MILLER v. CALIFORNIA

No. 70-73

SUPREME OURT OF THE UNITED STATES

413 U.S. 15; 93 S. Ct. 2607; 37 L. Ed. 2d 419; 1973 U.S. LEXIS 149; 1 Media L.

Rep. 1441

January 18-19, 1972, Argued

June 21, 1973, Decided

JUDGES: Burger, C. J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which White, Blackmun, Powell, and Rehnquist, JJ., joined. Douglas, J., filed a dissenting opinion. Brennan, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which Stewart and Marshall, JJ., joined.

OPINION: BURGER, Chief Justice:

This is one of a group of “obscenity-pornography” cases being reviewed by the Court in a re-examination of standards enunciated in earlier cases involving what Mr. Justice Harlan called “the intractable obscenity problem.”

Appellant conducted a mass mailing campaign to advertise the sale of illustrated books, euphemistically called “adult” material. After a jury trial, he was convicted of violating California Penal Code § 311.2 (a), a misdemeanor, by knowingly distributing obscene matter, and the Appellate Department, Superior Court of California, County of Orange, summarily affirmed the judgment without opinion.