Case Summary and Outcome

The United States Supreme Court ruled that the actions of a state commission in Rhode Island designed to protect minors from offensive or obscene language or images was unconstitutional. Four publishers sued after being notified that the commission found that their publications contained material unfit for consumption by minors, and that they faced prosecution if they did not cease distribution and collect all unsold copies. The Court found that although states had the right to regulate obscene material, the actions were unconstitutional because in practice the order restricted the access of adults to the objectionable content.

Facts

The state of Rhode Island created a commission to screen published materials for offensive or obscene images or language. The commission was created to enforce a law that was designed to protect minors (under the age of 18) from exposure to obscene and offensive materials. Once the commission had decided that particular material was unfit, they would inform law enforcement, and the publisher would be forced to collect all unsold copies and stop distribution. If the publisher refused to comply with the order of the commission, they could be prosecuted.

Four out-of-state publishers, whose Rhode Island distributor had received notices from the commission that some of their materials “had been declared by a majority of [the commission’s] members to be objectionable for sale, distribution or display to youths under 18 years of age,” sued, claiming that the law and the commission were unconstitutional.

Decision Overview

J. Brennan delivered the opinion of the Supreme Court of the United States. He noted the regulation of obscenity has traditionally been left to the individual states. However, a state cannot implement regulations without consideration of the consequences to a narrowing of the First Amendment.

The Court focused on three main points: 1) the fact that the commission afforded no protection to the publishers of nonobscene materials, 2) that it did not provide any way for the publisher to appeal the decision of the commission, and 3) that it did not take into account that protecting minors from obscene materials would also censor adults from access to the same materials.

The commission’s procedure of informing the publisher and distributor under the threat of law created a hostile environment that had the potential to obstruct the publisher, distributor, and author’s First Amendment right to freedom of speech. Therefore, the commission went beyond the state’s right to regulate obscenity and suppressed constitutional rights. The Court held the law itself was constitutional, but the commission was unconstitutional.

J. Douglas concurred, noting that any censorship of obscene materials is incompatible with the First Amendment. J. Clark concurred as well, stating that if the commission had a set of rules or proceedings, it could exist compatibly with constitutional rights.

J. Harlan dissented, arguing that the existence of the commission was not unconstitutional. He asserted that remedies for nonobscene materials exist within the court system and that the issue of adult censorship must be determined by an individual case, rather than through a broad generalization that such censorship may occur.