Court Opinion

ID: 8986101
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2022-11-27 11:46:02.313313+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:10:47.322051
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice Douglas,
dissenting.
We held in Stanley v. Georgia, 394 U. S. 557, that an individual reading or examining “obscene” materials in the privacy of his home is protected against state prosecution by reason of the First Amendment made applicable to the States by reason of the Fourteenth. We said:
“These are the rights that appellant is asserting in the case before us. He is asserting the right to read or observe what he pleases — the right to satisfy his intellectual and emotional needs in the privacy of his own home. He is asserting the right to be free from state inquiry into the contents of his library. Georgia contends that appellant does not have these rights, that there are certain types of materials that the individual may not read or even possess. Georgia justifies this assertion by arguing that the *146films in the present case are obscene. But we think that mere categorization of these films as ‘obscene’ is insufficient justification for such a drastic invasion of personal liberties guaranteed by the First and Fourteenth Amendments. Whatever may be the justifications for other statutes regulating obscenity, we do not think they reach into the privacy of one’s own home. If the First Amendment means anything, it means that a State has no business telling a man, sitting alone in his own house, what books he may read or what films he may watch. Our whole constitutional heritage rebels at the thought of giving government the power to control men’s minds.” Id., at 565.
By that reasoning a person who reads an “obscene” book on an airline or bus or train is protected. So is he who carries an “obscene” book in his pocket during a journey for his intended personal enjoyment. So is he who carries the book in his baggage or has a trucking company move his household effects to a new residence. Yet 18 U. S. C. § 1462* makes such interstate carriage unlawful. Appellee therefore moved to dismiss the indictment on the ground that § 1462 is so broad as to cover “obscene” material designed for personal use.
The District Court granted the motion, holding that § 1462 was overbroad and in violation of the First Amendment.
The conclusion is too obvious for argument, unless we are to overrule Stanley. I would abide by Stanley and affirm the judgment dismissing the indictment.

“Whoever brings into the United States, or any place subject to the jurisdiction thereof, or knowingly uses any express company or other common carrier, for carriage in interstate or foreign commerce—
“(a) any obscene, lewd, lascivious, or filthy book, pamphlet, picture, motion-picture film, paper, letter, writing, print, or other matter of indecent character.”