Jacobellis v. Ohio File:Seal of the United States Supreme Court.svg Full case name Nico Jacobellis v. Ohio Citations 378 U.S. 184 (more Prior Defendant convicted, Court of Common Pleas of Cuyahoga County, Ohio , 6-3-60; affirmed, 175 N.E.2d 123 (Ohio Ct. App. 1961); affirmed, 179 N.E.2d 777 (Ohio 1962); probable jurisdiction noted, 371 U.S. 808 (1962). Subsequent None The First Amendment, as applied through the Fourteenth, protected a movie theater manager from being prosecuted for possessing and showing a film that was not obscene.
Chief Justice
Earl Warren
Associate Justices
Hugo Black · William O. Douglas Tom C. Clark · John M. Harlan II William J. Brennan Jr. · Potter Stewart Byron White · Arthur Goldberg
Plurality Brennan, joined by Goldberg Concurrence Black, joined by Douglas Concurrence Stewart Concurrence White Dissent Warren, joined by Clark Dissent Harlan U.S. Const. amends. I , XIV ; Ohio Rev. Code § 2905.34
Jacobellis v. Ohio United States Supreme Court decision handed down in 1964 involving whether the state of Ohio could, consistent with the First Amendment , ban the showing of the Louis Malle film The Lovers Les Amants ), which the state had deemed obscene .[ 1]
Background Nico Jacobellis, manager of the Heights Art Theatre in the Coventry Village neighborhood of Cleveland Heights, Ohio , was charged with two counts of possessing and exhibiting an obscene film in [378 U.S. 184, 186] violation of Ohio Revised Code (1963 Supp.), convicted and ordered by a judge of the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas to pay fines of $500 on the first count and $2,000 on the second (equivalent to $26,000 in 2023),[ 2] workhouse , for exhibiting the film.[ 3] Ohio Court of Appeals [ 4] Supreme Court of Ohio .[ 5]
Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States reversed the conviction by ruling that the film was not obscene and so was constitutionally protected. However, the Court could not agree as to a rationale, yielding four different opinions from the majority. No opinion, including the two dissenting ones, had the support of more than two justices. The decision was announced by William J. Brennan , but his opinion was joined only by Justice Arthur Goldberg .
Justice Hugo Black , joined by Justice William O. Douglas , reiterated his well-known view that the First Amendment does not permit censorship of any kind.[ 6] Earl Warren , in dissent, decried the confused state of the Court's obscenity jurisprudence and argued that Ohio's action was consistent with the Court's decision in Roth v. United States [ 7] John Marshall Harlan II also dissented; he believed that states should have "wide, but not federally unrestricted" power to ban obscene films.[ 8]
Subsequent developments The Court's obscenity jurisprudence would remain fragmented until 1973's Miller v. California [ 9]
See also References
↑ Jacobellis v. Ohio , 378 U.S. 184 (1964).↑ 1634–1699: McCusker, J. J. (1997). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda (PDF) . American Antiquarian Society .McCusker, J. J. (1992). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States (PDF) . American Antiquarian Society .Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–" . Retrieved February 29, 2024 .
↑ "FindLaw's United States Supreme Court case and opinions" .↑ State v. Jacobellis 175 N.E.2d 123 (Ohio Ct. App. 1961).↑ State v. Jacobellis 179 N.E.2d 777 (Ohio 1962).↑ Jacobellis , 378 U.S. at 196 (Black, J., concurring).↑ Jacobellis , 378 U.S. at 199 (Warren, C.J., dissenting).↑ Jacobellis , 378 U.S. at 203 (Harlan, J., dissenting).↑ Miller v. California 413 U.S. 15 (1973).
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