List and explain the guidelines established by the US Supreme Court in the 1973 case of Miller v. California for courts to define obscenity.
List and explain the guidelines established by the US Supreme Court in the 1973 case of Miller v. California for courts to define obscenity.
A legal controversy concerning Marvin Miller, a California resident who ran a mass mailing operation to promote the sale of adult goods, gave rise to the Miller v. California case. Miller was accused of breaking a law in California that forbade the dissemination of pornographic content. Eventually, the case reached the U.S. Supreme Court, which was assigned the difficult challenge of deciding how to define and control obscenity in accordance with the First Amendment.
The Supreme Court acknowledged in its decision that not all forms of speech and expression are completely protected by the First Amendment. Rather, it permits some restrictions, especially with regard to obscenity, which is deemed to have little to no societal value and is not, thus, covered by the Constitution.
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