Court Opinion

ID: 9684207
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 13:50:39.121159+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:17:54.053179
License: Public Domain

ALDRICH, Circuit Judge.
This is a three-judge district court action in which a frontal attack is made upon a state obscenity statute, based upon the Court’s recent decision in Stanley v. Georgia, 1969, 394 U.S. 557, 89 S.Ct. 1243, 22 L.Ed.2d 542. In that case the Court reversed a state conviction for possession of a eoncededly obscene moving picture film, found in the home of the defendant. We are asked to rule that this decision extends to a case where the possessors permitted a number of consenting adults or, more exactly, paying adult members of the public, to view their possibly obscene picture in a moving picture house.
Briefly, the facts are these. Plaintiffs Karalexis et al. are the owners and operators of a moving picture theatre which has been engaged in showing a film, owned and leased by Grove Press, Inc.,1 entitled “I Am Curious (Yellow).” The named defendant is the county district attorney who has charged plaintiffs *1365with violation of Mass.G.L. c. 272 § 28A 2 as a result of their exhibiting the film, but notice has been given, 28 U.S.C. § 2284, and an assistant attorney general has conducted the defense throughout. Plaintiffs seek a declaration that the statute is unconstitutional and an injunction against prosecution thereunder. Because of the fact that the original indictments were defective, the proceedings sought to be enjoined postdate the assumption of jurisdiction by this court, and no question arises under 28 U.S.C. § 2283, the anti-injunction, or what is sometimes called the comity, statute.
Defendant’s broad motion to dismiss tests the substance of plaintiffs’ case. Our present question, however, is only whether we shall issue a temporary injunction pending final disposition, there being possible reasons to withhold the making of a final decision, which we have not yet fully explored. Alternatively, there is the question whether we should abstain altogether, without granting temporary relief. With respect to the first question the issues, of course, are whether there is a probability that plaintiffs will ultimately prevail, Automatic Radio Mfg. Co. v. Ford Motor Co., 1 Cir., 1968, 390 F.2d 113, cert. denied 391 U.S. 914, 88 S.Ct. 1807, 20 L.Ed.2d 653, and the adequacy of the remedy at law.
The following facts appear by stipulation of counsel or otherwise. Plaintiffs have sufficiently indicated to the viewing public the possible offensiveness of the film, so that no patron will be taken unawares and his sensibilities offended. On the other hand, the film is not advertised in any pandering manner within the stricture of Ginsburg v. United States, 1966, 383 U.S. 463, 86 S.Ct. 942, 16 L.Ed.2d 31. Finally, it is conceded that the theatre is policed, so that no minors are permitted to enter.
For purposes of this case we assume that the film is obscene by standards currently applied by the Massachusetts courts.3 In this connection we note that the Superior Court of Massachusetts, in the recent case of Commonwealth v. Karalexis, has found that “the dominant theme of the film * * * is its appeal to prurient interest in sex * * *. [The film] is patently offensive to the average person and an affront to community standards * * * [It] is utterly without redeeming social value.” Except insofar as it found statements in the opinion favorable to its conclusions in other respects the Superior Court disposed of Stanley v. Georgia by stating it to be “irrelevant.”
In Stanley Mr. Justice Marshall wrote the opinion of the Court in which four others joined. Mr. Justice Black concurred in the result because, in his mind, no case-by-case reasoning is needed in the area of obscenity; all is permissible.4 The remaining three justices concurred *1366on Fourth Amendment grounds,5 stating that the obscenity question should not have been reached. The Court held that in certain circumstances possession of a moving picture film is constitutionally protected even though by contemporary standards the film is obscene. We do not consider this irrelevant.
The question is, how far does Stanley go. Is the decision to be limited to the precise problem of “mere private possession of obscene material,” 394 U.S. at 561, 89 S.Ct. at 1245; is it the high water mark of a past flood, or is it the precursor of a new one? Defendant points to the fact that the Court in Stanley stated that Roth v. United States, 1957, 354 U.S. 476, 77 S.Ct. 1304, 1 L.Ed.2d 1498, was “not impaired by today’s holding,” and in the course of its opinion recognized the state’s interest there upheld in prohibiting public distribution of obscenity. Yet, with due respect, Roth cannot remain intact, for the Court there had announced that “obscenity is not within the area of constitutionally protected speech or press,” 354 U.S. at 485, 77 S.Ct. at 1309,6 whereas it held that Stanley’s interest was protected by the First Amendment, and that the fact that the film was “devoid of any ideological content” was irrelevant. 394 U.S. at 566, 89 S.Ct. at 1248.
Of greater importance, a need for affirmative proof that obscenity raises a “clear and present danger of antisocial conduct or will probably induce its recipients to such conduct,” rejected in Roth, was stated in Stanley to have been rejected in the area of “public distribution.” The obverse is apparent. Of necessity the Stanley court held that obscenity presented no clear and present danger to the adult viewer, or to the public as a result of his exposure. Obscenity may be offensive; it is not per se harmful.7 394 U.S. at 567, 89 S.Ct. 1243. Had the Court considered obscenity harmful as such, the fact that the defendant possessed it privately in his home would have been of no consequence.
In recognizing that public distribution differed from private consumption, the Court in Stanley gave two examples. In the case of public distribution, “obscene material might fall into the hands of children * * * or * * * it might intrude upon the sensibilities or privacy of the general public.” 394 U.S. at 567, 89 S.Ct. at 1249. To these examples, which were the extent of the Court’s discussion, it can be said, equally with Stanley, “No such dangers are present in this case.”
We confess that no oracle speaks to Karalexis unambiguously. Nonetheless, we think it probable that Roth remains intact only with respect to public distribution in the full sense, and that restricted distribution, adequately controlled, is no longer to be condemned. It is difficult to think that if Stanley has a constitutional right to view obscene films, the Court would intend its exercise to be only at the expense of a criminal act on behalf of the only logical source, the professional supplier.8 A constitu*1367tional right to receive a communication would seem meaningless if there were no coextensive right to make it. Cf. Griswold v. Connecticut, 1965, 381 U.S. 479, 85 S.Ct. 1678, 14 L.Ed.2d 510. If a rich Stanley can view a film, or read a book, in his home, a poorer Stanley should be free to visit a protected theatre or library. We see no reason for saying he must go alone.9
So much for the probability of success. We do not agree with defendant’s contention that there is no indication of irreparable injury. Even if money damages could be thought in some cases adequate compensation for delay, this defendant will presumably be immune. We agree with plaintiffs that the box office receipts, if there is a substantial delay, can be expected to be smaller. A moving picture may well be a diminishing asset.10 It has been said, also, that in assessing injury the chilling effect upon the freedom of expression of others is to be considered. See Dombrowski v. Pfister, 1965, 380 U.S. 479, 486-489, 85 S.Ct. 1116, 14 L.Ed.2d 22.
This leads us to defendant’s contention that we should, nevertheless, abstain until the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has considered this question, since plaintiffs can raise it in their appeal from their Superior Court convictions. However, if our interpretation of Stanley is correct, we find it difficult to think the Massachusetts statute susceptible to a construction which would save it from overbroadness. Hence we must regard abstention as improper. Zwickler v. Koota, 1967, 389 U.S. 241, 88 S.Ct. 391, 19 L.Ed.2d 444. In the field where Congress has established a three-judge district court, abstention may still be warranted if there is a reasonable likelihood that the state court may construe its statute so as to avoid constitutional issues, but abstention is not appropriate simply to allow the state court to be the one to decide the statute’s basic conflict with the federal constitution.11
We do understand, however, certain apprehensions voiced by the defendant. We note, accordingly, that this is a decision of probability, not a final holding that the Massachusetts statute is unconstitutional. Much less is it a decision that one who distributes to children, or who creates a clear public nuisance, has standing to raise the contention that the statute is overbroad.12 The preliminary *1368injunction presently to issue will be restricted to, and conditioned upon, plaintiffs’ adherence to the restrictions described earlier in this opinion. Nor do we consider the difference between the right to regulate conduct as distinguished from expression. Cf. City of Portland v. Derrington, Or. 2/26/69, 451 P.2d 111, cert. denied Derrington v. City of Portland, 396 U.S. 901, 90 S.Ct. 212, 24 L.Ed.2d 177. Finally, we voice no opinion as to the legal consequences if plaintiffs exhibit their film under the protection of our injunction, and it is ultimately determined that our view was mistaken and that such exhibition was properly considered illicit.
Because of the importance of the matter, the injunction will not issue for one week, to permit plaintiffs to add other parties, if so advised, and to give the defendant the opportunity to apply to the Circuit Justice for a stay.

. Grove Press, Inc.’s motion to intervene was originally denied, counsel being permitted, instead, to appear as an amicus. In view of this opinion, Grove Press may be allowed to renew its motion at an early date.

. “ § 28A. Importing, printing, distributing or possessing obscene tilings
Whoever imports, prints, publishes, sells or distributes a pamphlet, ballad, printed paper, phonographic record, or other thing which is obscene, indecent or impure, or an obscene, indecent or impure print, picture, figure, image or description, or buys, procures, receives or has in his possession any such pamphlet, ballad, printed paper, phonographic record, obscene, indecent or impure print, picture, figure, image or other thing, for the purpose of sale, exhibition, loan or circulation, shall be punished

. Another court, viewing this same film, has differed. United States v. A Motion Picture Film Entitled “I Am Curious—Yellow,” 2 Cir., 1968, 404 F.2d 196.

. The Superior Court’s extensive analysis in Karalexis of a decade of the Supreme Court’s views, reaching the conclusion that there is no majority agreement on any one approach to obscenity, apart from the fact that it disregards such an agreement in Stanley, overlooks the fact that if only four, or even three, justices agree on one method by which immunity is reached, this agreement is as significant as if five joined, so long as there are enough other justices who can be counted on to concur in the result. If we may be pardoned the analogy, if deuces are wild, an inside straight flush and a deuce takes the pot. See Redrup v. New York, 1967, 386 U.S. 767, 770-771. 87 S.Ct. 1414, 18 L.Ed.2d 515.

. Not the Fourth Amendment grounds on which the defendants assert the majority-opinion rests. The three concurring justices regarded the warrant under which Stanley’s home had been searched insufficient to justify the seizure of the film. The opinion of the Court, pointedly, it may be thought, ignored that issue. The present defendant’s claim that, nevertheless, the Court looked to a Fourth Amendment general protection of privacy, is made in the face of the fact that the Court spoke constantly in terms of the First and Fourteenth Amendments and did not mention the Fourth.

. “[I]mplicit in the history of the First Amendment is the rejection of obscenity as utterly without redeeming social importance.” 354 U.S. at 484, 77 S.Ct. at 1309.

. Non constat that a film which went beyond ordinary obscenity by exhorting sexual misconduct might be prohibited. Exhortation is not suggested in the case at bar.

. It may be suggested that the supplier would run a particular risk, since the apprehended possessor of the film would, under Stanley, have no Fifth Amendment privilege to resist inquiry.

. For a further discussion of Stanley v. Georgia, see The Supreme Court, 1968 Term, 83 Harv.L.Rev. 7, 147 — 154 (1969).

. The fact that plaintiffs are economically motivated is of no significance. New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 1964, 376 U.S. 254, 84 S.Ct. 710, 11 L.Ed.2d 686. In Interstate Circuit, Inc. v. Dallas, 1968, 390 U.S. 676 at 684, 88 S.Ct. 1298 at 1303, 20 L.Ed.2d 225, the Court spoke disapprovingly of the effect of the Dallas ordinance upon “one who wishes to convey his ideas through that medium [films], which of course includes one who is interested not so much in expression as in making money * *

. There is an alternative possibility, that the Supreme Judicial Court would find the film not obscene. The Superior Court, in an elaborate opinion, has found otherwise. We are not moved by the thought that we should postpone permitting plaintiffs to exhibit their film on the ground that, after all, it is not obscene.

. Normally standing is granted only when a defendant’s own conduct is constitutionally protected. United States v. Raines, 1960, 362 U.S. 17, 80 S.Ct. 519, 4 L.Ed.2d 524. This rule has been relaxed in cases dealing with statutes affecting free expression. See United States v. Raines, supra, at 22, 80 S.Ct. 519 (dictum); Thornhill v. Alabama, 1940, 310 U.S. 88, 96-98, 60 S.Ct. 736, 84 L.Ed. 1093; Sedler, Standing to Assert Constitutional Jus Tertii in the Supreme Court, 71 Yale L.J. 599 (1962). However, even where free speech is involved, it may be that standing should not be granted unless the defendant’s conduct is at least arguably constitutionally privileged. Cf. Brown v. Louisiana, 1966, 383 U.S. 131, 143, 147-148, 86 S.Ct. 719, 15 L.Ed.2d 637 (concurring opinion of Mr. Justice Brennan); Dennis v. United States, 341 U.S. 494, 515-517, 71 S.Ct. 857, 95 L.Ed. 1137. We do not reach such questions.