Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/414/955/
Timestamp: 2019-04-24 07:53:40+00:00

Document:
On petitioner for writ of certiorari to the Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama.
(1973); Heller v. New York, 413 U.S. 483 ( 1973); Roaden v. Kentucky, 413 U.S. 496 ( 1973); and Alexander v. Virginia, 413 U.S. 836 (1973).
On remand, affirmed, 299 So.2d 780.
The exceptions to the First Amendment written into the Constitution by the majority, which we now ask the court below to apply on remand, could not more clearly exhibit these evils of vagueness. Following the old Roth2 standards, the Court adopted the approach in Redrup3 of deciding each case on an ad hoc basis without attempt to offer guidance for future adjudications. A new majority of five now tries again, with reworked Roth standards which allow much freer reign to the predilections of local authorities. But this greater latitude only exacerbates the problem of vagueness.
victed under that State's obscenity laws for showing a film which received much critical acclaim, and an Oscar nomination for the female lead. [Footnote 5] We deal here with criminal prosecutions under which a man may lose his liberty. Our Constitution requires fair notice so that the law-abiding can conform their conduct to the requirements of the law.
The standards of Miller are not better. I dissent.
prohibit the state and federal governments from attempting wholly to suppress sexually oriented materials on the basis of their allegedly 'obscene' contents.' Paris Adult Theatre I v. Slaton, 413 U.S. 49, 113 (1973). It is clear that, tested by that constitutional standard, 374(4) is constitutionally overbroad and therefore invalid on its face. For the reasons stated in my dissent in Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15, 47 (1973 ), I would therefore grant certiorari, vacate the judgment of the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals and remand for further proceedings not inconsistent with my Paris Adult dissent. In that circumstance, I have no occasion to consider whether the other questions presented merit plenary review. See Heller v. New York, 413 U.S. 494, 495d 745 (1973).
Footnote 1 Grayned v. City of Rockford, 408 U.S. 104, 108-109 (1972) (internal cites and quotes omitted). See also the cases cited id., at 108-109, nn. 3-5.
Footnote 2 Roth v. United States, 354 U.S. 476 ( 1957).
Footnote 3 Redrup v. New York, 386 U.S. 767 ( 1967). See the dissenting opinion of Mr. Justice Brennan in Paris Adult Theatre I v. Slaton, 413 U.S. 49, 73, at 83 ( 1973).
Footnote 5 Jenkins v. The State, 230 Ga. 726, 199 S.E.2d 183 (1973). The movie, Carnal Knowledge, received an 'R', not an 'X' rating from the M. P. A. A. See No Evil, Time, July 16, 1973, at p. 73. The President of the Motion Picture Association of America, noting that the film is a 'serious work,' complained that the Court's standards have left motion picture producers 'in a no man's land.' What the Court Has Done to Movies, New York Times, August 17, 1973, at p. 15, col. 1.

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