International Amusements, Dba Adult Book & Cinema Store, Et Al. v. Utah

Background

A company operating an adult bookstore and others were convicted after a jury trial in Weber County, Utah, for distributing pornographic material under 1975 Utah law. The Utah Supreme Court affirmed those convictions. The state statute defined “pornographic material” with three parts: appeal to prurient interest, patently offensive sexual description, and lack of serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.

Reasoning

The Supreme Court declined to review the Utah court’s decision, so the convictions remained in force. Justice Brennan, joined by Justices Stewart and Marshall, wrote a dissent arguing the statute was constitutionally overbroad. He said that except for distribution to minors or forced exposure of unwilling adults, the First and Fourteenth Amendments protect sexually oriented material and that the Utah definition improperly allows broad suppression; he would have granted review and reversed the state judgment because it was entered after the Court’s controlling obscenity decisions.

Real world impact

Because the Court refused to hear the case, the Utah convictions and the state law as applied in this prosecution remain effective. The Supreme Court’s action is not a final ruling on the law’s constitutionality nationwide; the constitutional issue remains unsettled and could be decided differently in a future case. For now, state enforcement proceeds in this instance while disagreement among Justices is publicly recorded.

Dissents or concurrances

Justice Brennan’s dissent, joined by Justices Stewart and Marshall, explains why they believe the statute is overbroad and why they would have overturned the convictions.