Court Opinion

ID: 9713153
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 05:09:29.793211+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:17.012717
License: Public Domain

Kaplan, J.
(with whom Liacos, J., joins, dissenting). As opportunity offered, I have expressed my belief that the statute is unconstitutional under our Declaration of Rights.1 On the same ground of fundamental invalidity I vote today to reverse the judgments of conviction.
*807A majority of the court balk at holding the law to be unconstitutional on its face, but they say they are open to a demonstration that there are no cognizable Statewide “standards,” in which case they would hold the law to be void for vagueness. As we are dealing with censorship, it would seem that, if any demand for a demonstration can be fairly made, it should be in the contrary sense, and addressed to the Commonwealth, not the putative transgressor. Because of the difficulty of the subject matter, and the inevitable opacity of the questions that would have to be asked on a poll or survey, the placing of the burden is not unimportant. Nevertheless it would be premature to discourage by forecasts of failure any attempts to satisfy the majority with empirical data. Indeed, so wearisome and purposeless have been the prosecutions under the law as seen here, that all might hope for a reason to put the statute to rest and out of the way.

 Commonwealth v. Horton, 365 Mass. 164, 177 (1974) (concurring); Commonwealth v. Capri Enterprises, Inc., 365 Mass. 179, 181 (1974) (concurring); Essex Theatre Corp. v. Police Comm’r of Boston, 365 Mass. 183, 185 (1974) (concurring); Revere v. Aucella, 369 Mass. 138, 148 (1975) (dissenting in part), appeal dismissed sub nom. Charger Invs., Inc. v. Corbett, 429 U.S. 877 (1976); Commonwealth v. 707 Main Corp., 371 Mass. 374, 386 (1976) (dissenting); Commonwealth v. Thureson, 371 Mass. 387, 391 (1976) (concurring); District Attorney for the N. Dist. v. Three Way Theatres Corp., 371 Mass. 391, 395 (1976) (dissenting); Commonwealth v. Zone Book, Inc., 372 Mass. 366, 373 (1977) (concurring); Commonwealth v. Ferro, 372 Mass. 379, 386-387 (1977) (dissenting); Commonwealth v. Sees, ante 532, 538 (1978) (concurring).