Smith v. United States
Headline: Federal conviction for mailing sexually explicit material to consenting adults is upheld; Court ruled federal mail ban overrides a State’s choice not to regulate and lets juries decide local community standards.
Holding: The Court affirmed the conviction, holding that federal law banning obscene mailings applies regardless of a State’s decision not to criminally regulate adult distribution, and that juries determine contemporary community standards.
- Allows federal prosecutions even when a State permits adult distribution.
- Makes juries decide local community standards in obscenity mail cases.
- Keeps state laws as evidence but not binding in federal mail trials.
Summary
Background
A man mailed sexually explicit magazines and two films from Des Moines to post office boxes in two small Iowa communities in 1974. At that time Iowa had repealed earlier obscenity laws and had a statute that only made it a crime to send obscene material to minors; the man’s mailings were not to minors, were intrastate, and did not violate Iowa law then in effect. He was prosecuted under the federal law that forbids mailing obscene material.
Reasoning
The Court asked whether a State’s choice not to criminally regulate adult distribution could control a federal prosecution and whether jurors must follow the State law when measuring local standards. The majority held that the federal mail statute reaches obscene materials up to the constitutional limit, that juries must apply contemporary community standards in federal trials, and that a State’s law is relevant evidence but not conclusive. The Court also rejected the claim that the federal statute was unconstitutionally vague as applied and found the trial judge did not abuse discretion in limiting the specific voir dire questions offered about community standards.
Real world impact
The decision means federal mail prosecutions can proceed even where a State has declined to punish adult distribution; juries will decide local tolerance and offense. State statutes remain admissible as evidence of community attitudes but do not bind federal juries. Those who mail or sell sexually explicit material by mail in permissive States face possible federal enforcement.
Dissents or concurrances
Justice Powell agreed but stressed the narrowness of the issue. Justices Stevens and Brennan dissented, arguing the federal prosecution was improper or the statute overbroad and warning about juror subjectivity and criminal penalties for consensual adult distribution.
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