JANET RENO, ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES, et al. v. AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION et al.
Supreme Court Cases
521 U.S. 844 (1997)
Related Cases
LINDKE v. FREED
Decided:
Too many public officials harness the power of social media while also selectively blocking or banning certain members of the public from interacting with their accounts.
UNITED STATES v. ROBERT J. STEVENS
Decided:
Whether a federal statute criminalizing depictions of animal cruelty violated the First Amendment.
UNITED STATES v. MICHAEL WILLIAMS
Decided:
Does the PROTECT Act abridge First Amendment freedom of speech by prohibiting offers and requests of materials believed to be child pornography?
JOHN D. ASHCROFT, ATTORNEY GENERAL v. AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION et al.
Decided:
Whether the court of appeals properly barred enforcement of the Child Online Protection Act on First Amendment grounds because the statute relies on community standards to identify material that is harmful to minors.
UNITED STATES, et al. v. AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, INC., et al.
Decided:
Whether the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) induces public libraries to violate the 1st Amendment, thereby exceeding Congress's power under the Spending Clause by providing that a library that is otherwise eligible for special federal assistance for Internet access in the form of discount rates for educational purposes under the Telecommunications Act of 1996, 47 U.S.C. 254(h), or grants under the Library Services and Technology Act, 20 U.S.C. 9121 et seq., may not receive that assistance unless the library has in place a policy that includes the operation of a technology protection measure on Internet-connected computers that protects against access by all persons to visual depictions that are obscene or child pornography, and that protects against access by minors to visual depictions that are harmful to minors, a condition of the receipt of federal funding.
JOHN ASHCROFT, ATTORNEY GENERAL v. AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION, et al.
Decided:
Whether the "harmful to minors provisions" of the Child Online Protection Act violate the First Amendment.
CITY OF LOS ANGELES v. ALAMEDA BOOKS, INC., et al.
Decided:
Whether a city can justify a ban on multiple-use adult businesses by relying on a study that does not examine the harmful, secondary effects of those type of businesses.
JOHN D. ASHCROFT, ATTORNEY GENERAL, et al. v. THE FREE SPEECH COALITION et al.
Decided:
Whether two sections of a law banning computer generated images of child pornography or pornography with adult actors appearing like children violates the First Amendment.
UNITED STATES, et al. v. PLAYBOY ENTERTAINMENT GROUP, INC.
Decided:
Whether a federal law requiring cable operators to "fully scramble" indecent and sexually explicit programming on adult stations violate the First Amendment.
CITY OF ERIE, et al. v. PAP'S A. M., TDBA 'KANDYLAND'
Decided:
Whether the city of Erie's ban on public nudity violates the First Amendment or is a valid exercise of the city's power to regulate harmful secondary effects associated with nude-dancing establishments.
LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT v. UNITED REPORTING PUBLISHING CORPORATION
Decided:
Whether a California state law that prohibits the release of arrestees' personal addresses if used for commercial purposes, but allows the release of such information for other purposes, violates the First Amendment.
GREATER NEW ORLEANS BROADCASTING ASSOCIATION, INC., ETC., et al. v. UNITED STATES et al.
Decided:
Whether a federal law banning truthful, nonmisleading broadcast ads of private casino gaming violates commercial free-speech rights.
TURNER BROADCASTING SYSTEM, INC., et al. v. FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION et al.
Decided:
Whether the government may constitutionally require cable television system operators to carry local broadcast stations.
DENVER AREA EDUCATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS CONSORTIUM, INC., et al. v. FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION et al.
Decided:
Whether the government may constitutionally (1) permit cable operators to refuse to carry indecent material on leased local access channels, (2) require cable operators that choose to carry indecent local access programming to place such programming on a separate channel and to block the channel until the subscriber requests unblocking, and (3) permit cable operators to refuse to carry indecent programming on local public, educational, and governmental channels.
JUDY MADSEN, et al. v. WOMEN'S HEALTH CENTER, INC., et al.
Decided:
Whether an injunction that limits the places where and the manner in which antiabortion protestors may demonstrate violates the First Amendment.
TURNER BROADCASTING SYSTEM, INC., et al. v. FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION et al.
Decided:
Whether the government may constitutionally require cable television system operators to carry local broadcast stations.
FORSYTH COUNTY, GEORGIA v. THE NATIONALIST MOVEMENT
Decided:
Whether a local ordinance may constitutionally permit a government administrator to vary the fee charged for a parade permit to reflect the estimated cost of maintaining public order during the parade.
MICHAEL BARNES, PROSECUTING ATTORNEY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, INDIANA, et al. v. GLEN THEATRE, INC., et al.
Decided:
Whether a state may constitutionally prohibit nude dancing in public places.
OSBORNE v. OHIO
Decided:
Whether an Ohio statute prohibiting the private possession or viewing of child pornography is overbroad and violates the First Amendment's free speech guarantees.
FW/PBS, INC., DBA PARIS ADULT BOOKSTORE II, et al. v. CITY OF DALLAS et al.
Decided:
Whether a Dallas ordinance licensing "sexually oriented businesses" amounted to a prior restraint on protected expression, violating the First Amendment.
SABLE COMMUNICATIONS OF CALIFORNIA, INC. v. FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION et al.
Decided:
Whether a California law banning indecent as well as obscene interstate commercial telephone messages violated the First Amendment's free speech guarantee
MASSACHUSETTS v. OAKES
Decided:
Whether a Massachusetts child pornography statute prohibiting adults from posing or exhibiting minors "in a state of nudity" was overbroad and violated the First Amendment.
FORT WAYNE BOOKS, INC. v. INDIANA et al.
Decided:
Whether the seizure of a bookstore and its contents for selling obscene materials under RICO, with only "probable cause" was a form of prior restraint and violated the First Amendment.
BOARD OF AIRPORT COMMISSIONERS OF THE CITY OF LOS ANGELES et al. v. JEWS FOR JESUS, INC., et al.
Decided:
Whether a resolution banning all "First Amendment activities" at Los Angeles International Airport violates the First Amendment
POPE et al. v. ILLINOIS
Decided:
Whether determining if a work is obscene requires an objective standard instead of "community standards" to constitutionally judge whether the material has "value."
CITY OF NEWPORT, KENTUCKY, et al. v. IACOBUCCI, DBA TALK OF THE TOWN, et al.
Decided:
Whether a city ordinance barring nude dancing in establishments licensed to sell liquor violated proprietors' First Amendment rights.
BETHEL SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 403 et al. v. FRASER, A MINOR, et al.
Decided:
Whether school officials may prohibit a vulgar and lewd student speech at a student assembly even if the speech does not create a substantial disruption.
ARCARA, DISTRICT ATTORNEY OF ERIE COUNTY v. CLOUD BOOKS, INC., DBA VILLAGE BOOK & NEWS STORE, et al.
Decided:
Whether the First Amendment bars enforcement of a statute authorizing closure of a premises found to be used as a place for prostitution and lewdness because the premises are also used as an adult bookstore.
BROCKETT v. SPOKANE ARCADES, INC., et al.
Decided:
Whether an appeals court erred in invalidating in its entirety a Washington statute aimed at preventing and punishing the publication of obscene materials.
FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION v. LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF CALIFORNIA et al.
Decided:
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.
NEW YORK v. FERBER
Decided:
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.
NEW YORK STATE LIQUOR AUTHORITY v. BELLANCA, DBA THE MAIN EVENT, et al.
Decided:
Whether a New York statute barring topless dancing in venues licensed to serve liquor violates the First Amendment.
SCHAD et al. v. BOROUGH OF MOUNT EPHRAIM
Decided:
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
FLYNT et al. v. OHIO
Decided:
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.
VILLAGE OF SCHAUMBURG v. CITIZENS FOR A BETTER ENVIRONMENT et al.
Decided:
Whether a city ordinancewhich bars door-to-door solicitation by charities that cannot prove that 75% of their proceeds go directly to charitable purposesviolates the 1st and 14th Amendment free speech rights of solicitors.
FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION v. PACIFICA FOUNDATION et al.
Decided:
Whether a broadcast of patently offensive words dealing with sex and excretion may be regulated because of its content.
OHRALIK v. OHIO STATE BAR ASSN.
Decided:
Whether the Bar, acting with state authorization, constitutionally may discipline a lawyer for soliciting clients in person, for pecuniary gain, under circumstances likely to pose dangers that the State has a right to prevent.
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.
BATES et al. v. STATE BAR OF ARIZONA
Decided:
Whether an Arizona rule that restricts attorney advertising violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments.
WARD v. ILLINOIS
Decided:
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.
DORAN v. SALEM INN, INC., et al.
Decided:
Whether an injunction against enforcement of a New York ordinance prohibiting topless dancing due to overbreadth was wrongly granted.
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.
COX BROADCASTING CORP. et al. v. COHN
Decided:
Did the Georgia law violate the freedom of the press as protected by the First and Fourteenth Amendments?
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).
PARKER, WARDEN, et al. v. LEVY
Decided:
PLUMMER v. CITY OF COLUMBUS
Decided:
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:
BROADRICK v. OKLAHOMA
Decided:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
KOIS v. WISCONSIN
Decided:
GOODING, WARDEN v. WILSON
Decided:
Whether a Georgia criminal statute prohibiting “opprobrious words or abusive language, tending to cause a breach of the peace” violates the First Amendment.
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."
COHEN v. CALIFORNIA
Decided:
Whether arresting someone for wearing a jacket that says “Fuck the Draft” under a California statute which prohibits “offensive conduct” violated 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.
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.
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:
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.
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.
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.
TRALINS v. GERSTEIN, STATE ATTORNEY
Decided:
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.
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE v. BUTTON, ATTORNEY GENERAL OF VIRGINIA, et al.
Decided:
Whether a Virginia barratry statute which banned the improper solicitation of any legal or professional business unconstitutionally burdened the First Amendment freedom of association rights of the petitioner and petitioners clients.
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.
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.
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?
KUNZ v. NEW YORK
Decided:
Whether a city ordinance which prescribes no appropriate standard for administrative action and gives an administrative official discretionary power to control in advance the right of citizens to speak on religious matters on the city streets is invalid under the First and Fourteenth Amendments.
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.
FOX v. STATE OF WASHINGTON
Decided:
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?