Court Opinion

ID: 9422965
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:05:18.206826+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:22:40.599489
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice Douglas,
whom Mr. Justice Black joins,
concurring.
On several occasions I have indicated my view that movies are entitled to the same degree and kind of protection under the First Amendment as other forms of expression. Superior Films v. Department of Education, 346 U. S. 587, 588; Kingsley Pictures Corp. v. Regents, 360 U. S. 684, 697; Times Film Corp. v. Chicago, 365 U. S. 43, 78.* For the reasons there stated, I do not *62believe any form of censorship — no matter how speedy or prolonged it may be — is permissible. As I see it, a pictorial presentation occupies as preferred a position as any other form of expression. If censors are banned from the publishing business, from the pulpit, from the public platform — as they are — they should be banned from the the-atre. I would not admit the censor even for the limited role accorded him in Kingsley Books, Inc. v. Brown, 354 U. S. 436. I adhere to my dissent in that case. Id., at 446-447. Any authority to obtain a temporary injunction gives the State “the paralyzing power of a censor.” Id., at 446. The regime of Kingsley Books “substitutes punishment by contempt for punishment by jury trial.” Id., at 447. I would put an end to all forms and types of censorship and give full literal meaning to the command of the First Amendment.

The Court today holds that a system of movie censorship must contain at least three procedural safeguards if it is not to run afoul *62of the First Amendment: (1) the censor must have the burden of instituting judicial proceedings; (2) any restraint prior to judicial review can be imposed only briefly in order to preserve the status quo; and (3) a prompt judicial determination of obscenity must be assured. Thus the Chicago censorship system, upheld by the narrowest of margins in Times Film Corp. v. Chicago, 365 U. S. 43, could not survive under today’s standards, for it provided not one of these safeguards, as the dissenters there expressly pointed out. Id., at 73-75.