Horton v. California

Arizona v. Hicks, 480 U.S. 321, 325 (1987). In Hicks, the officers, responding to a shooting, moved a stereo to view and recorded the serial numbers. Id. The Supreme Court held that recording the numbers was allowed, however, what was not reasonable was the action of moving the stereo in order to make the serial numbers in plain view. Id. Another case that that determined the object is not contraband, is Nicholas v. State. In this case, the officers noticed photographic negatives in plain view, however the officers had no knowledge or suspicion that these negatives evidenced an illegality until the officer turned on the lights, held the negatives up to the light, and after looking closely he determined that the negatives contained evidence of a crime. Nicholas v. State, 502 S.W.2d 169, 257, (Tex. Crim.…

“One man’s vulgarity is another’s lyric”-Justice John Marshall Harlan What is value? This question swept the court room in 1987 during the case of Pope v. Illinois. Pope and Morrison, the Petitioners in the case, had been charged with the illegal sale of obscene magazines. They argued that the State of Illinois Obscenity Statute- under which they had been convicted- was unconstitutional because it had allowed the “value” of the magazines to be judged by community standards. In response,…

Supreme Court ruled 9-0 that expression is divided into two categories: speech that has social value, or is “worthwhile speech,” and speech that has no social value known as “worthless speech” (Tedford & Herbeck, 2013, p. 189). Known as Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire, this case established what was determined “fighting words, but also stated that language that is obscene and profane can be regarded as worthless speech. Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire was a result of a Jehovah’s Witness distributing…

(3) Many other occurrences as well as this one have happened in the past. Extremely famous musicians such as Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon, Yoko Ono and the Velvet Underground have had their albums pulled from record stores in the past for being too controversial (Newton). This is even still happening today; in 2010, MIA’s song, “Born Free,” was banned from Youtube.com (Newton). While people may not be able to avoid profanity and obscenities on public media, they do have the choice to watch a video,…

Arguably the most profound is freedom of speech. So that while we indulge in the privileges of today, we regard with great respect the fight that it took to get here. Charlotte Anita Whitney fought until her final days for freedom to speak in America. In the impressive book, “Speaking Freely,” Philippa Strum outlines both the struggles and victories of Whitney’s life testament through the Progressive Era, I.W.W, and state and federal courts. In her third book of the Landmark Law Cases and…

According to an article in The Columbus Dispatch, in late September, Ohio’s 10th District Court of Appeals decided to uphold the conviction and jail sentencing of Sheila Kearns (Bush, p.1). Kearns was a former substitute teacher at East High School in Columbus, Ohio who was “found guilty of disseminating material harmful to juveniles” (Bush, p.1). This conviction was due to Kearns showing the original “ABCs of Death” to the Spanish classes she was substituting in for that day (Bush, p.1). In the…

Minneapolis v. ACLU (2015) Opinion of the Court: Bradley May 2013 saw the arrival of an exhibit to the Minneapolis Institute of Art. The exhibit contents featured were A)photos of nude men and women depicted in a variety of poses, B) photos of adults engaged in various sexual activities, and C) pictures of several nude men standing very close to one another. Finally, there were several pictures that resembled recent advertisements by a famous clothes designer. This last set of photos portrayed…

under the rule of strict scrutiny. In contrast, obscenity is understood to be a form of pornography which is not protected under the First Amendment and is reviewed under the rational basis test. Historically, the United States Supreme Court has struggled to create a satisfying definition of what obscenity entails and how to differentiate pornography from obscene material. The case of Roth v United States in 1957 marks the first time the Court established a definition of obscenity which did not…

Art On Trial After reading all the three articles cases I think that the judges and the people make mistakes because they judge all the pieces of art as pornography and nudes. On the first case it was difficult task for the prosecutor to determine obscenity. In my opinion, it is not fair that the museum would have faced up to $10,000 in fines and Mr. Barrie would have faced up to a year in jail and up to $2,000 in fines. Although, as the cases said, “The Five of the seven photographs depicted…

In the case of Miller vs California, Miller is charged because he began sending obscene material to a restaurant owner in which they were sensitive to the specific material that they received. The material they were receiving was sexually sensitive and they felt as if they should be protected by the law from receiving this type of material. It is also said that being able to send whatever one would like no matter the content is also protected by the right of Freedom of speech. This is why…