Stanley v. Georgia

394 U.S. 557 (1969), argued 14–15 Jan. 1969, decided 7 Apr. 1969 by vote of 9 to 0; Marshall for the Court. From 1957, when the Supreme Court decided Roth v. United States, to 1973, when it decided Paris Adult Theatre I v. Slaton and Miller v. California, obscenity doctrine was in disarray. Different pluralines of the Court used different definitions and employed widely divergent views about the permissibility and scope of obscenity law in light of First Amendment limitations. In Stanley v. Georgia, the Court decided that the purely private possession in the home of even legally obscene material could not be punished. Justice Thurgood Marshall's opinion is unclear about the basis for this conclusion, subject under one interpretation as being based primarily on Fourth Amendment restrictions on search and seizure, under another as based on freedom of speech and the press, and under still another as based on a more broadly premised right of privacy that makes it impermissible for the state to restrict conduct affecting no one except the actor.

In part because of this uncertainty, question remains about the vitality of Stanley as good law. Insofar as it is based on a right of privacy, its holding has been undercut by subsequent decisions, particularly Bowers v. Hardwick (1986), which allowed state regulation of private sexual conduct. Insofar as the decision is about the limits of obscenity law, there is some question whether the 1973 decisions in Miller and Paris have rendered it obsolete. In any event the Court is clearly disinclined to extend its implications. In Osborne v. Ohio (1990) Justice Byron White for the Court held Stanley inapplicable to private possession of child pornography and warned that “Stanley should not be read too broadly.”

See also Obscenity and Pornography.

— Frederick Schauer

Stanley v. Georgia
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued January 14–15, 1969 Decided April 7, 1969
Full case name	Stanley v. Georgia
Citations	394 U.S. 557 (more) {{{Citation}}}
Holding
The First Amendment as applied to the States under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment prohibits making mere private possession of obscene material a crime. Supreme Court of Georgia reversed.
Court membership
Chief Justice Earl Warren Associate Justices Hugo Black · William O. Douglas John M. Harlan II · William J. Brennan, Jr. Potter Stewart · Byron White Abe Fortas · Thurgood Marshall
Case opinions
Laws applied
U.S. Const. Amend. I, XIV

Stanley v. Georgia, 394 U.S. 557 (1969), was a United States Supreme Court decision that helped to establish an implied "right to privacy" in U.S. law.

The Georgia home of Robert Eli Stanley, a suspected and previously-convicted bookmaker, was searched by police with a federal warrant to seize betting paraphernalia. They found none, but instead seized three reels of pornographic material from a desk drawer in an upstairs bedroom, and later charged Mr. Stanley with the possession of obscene materials, a crime under Georgia law. This conviction was upheld by the Supreme Court of Georgia.

The Court unanimously overturned the earlier decision and invalidated all state laws that forbid the private possession of materials judged obscene, on the grounds of the 1st and 14th Amendments. Justices Stewart, Brennan, and White, contributed a joint concurring opinion. Justice Hugo Black also concurred, with a separate opinion having to do with the Fourth Amendment search and seizure provision.

Compare People v. Ruggles and Cohen v. California for further insight into the case.

External links

• Text of Stanley v. Georgia, 394 U.S. 557 (1969) is available from:  · Enfacto · Findlaw

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