Davis v. United States
Headline: Court refuses review and leaves convictions for mailing allegedly obscene phonograph records in place, keeping criminal penalties for the seller and advertisers while dissenters say the free-speech argument should prevail.
Holding: The Court denied review of the conviction, leaving the lower-court judgment intact and the convictions in effect.
- Leaves the lower-court convictions for mailing the records in place.
- Maintains convictions tied to advertising mailed with the records unless overturned later.
- Keeps the First Amendment challenge unresolved by the high court.
Summary
Background
Joe Davis was convicted for sending two phonograph records through the mail that authorities called obscene. One record is mostly percussion and titled "Erotica." The other reproduces passages from Songs of Bilitis, a book of poems by Pierre Louys published in 1894. He was also convicted for mailing advertising circulars for the records, and five additional counts involved the label of a third record that was not alleged to be obscene. The United States asked the Supreme Court to review the case.
Reasoning
The central question was whether these mailings could be punished under the First Amendment as the Government claimed. The Supreme Court denied the petition for review, so it did not decide that constitutional question in this case. A dissenting opinion by Justice Stewart said the conviction cannot stand under the First Amendment and would have granted review and reversed. Justices Douglas and Black joined or agreed with that view, with Justice Douglas pointing to his earlier related opinions.
Real world impact
Because the Court denied review, the lower-court judgment and the convictions remain in effect for now, so the seller and those who mailed the advertising remain criminally liable unless the case is successfully reopened later. The Supreme Court’s order leaves the underlying free-speech issue unresolved at the national level.
Dissents or concurrances
Justice Stewart’s dissent emphasizes that the material involved includes literary poems and a percussion recording and argues that punishing these mailings violates free-speech protections; two other Justices joined his view.
Opinions in this case:
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