It is popular for people to say "I can say whatever I want" but this has never been the case in the US and was never meant to be. Obscenity, Slander, Libel, Fighting Words, Inciting to Riot, Treason, etc.
This one's for obscenity, I have no idea if he violated the laws on it, but we've dealt with cases on this before, and IIRC the Miller test is used for this sort of thing:
Whether "the average person, applying contemporary community standards", would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest,
Whether the work depicts/describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by applicable state law,
Whether the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value
If it hits all three, its obscene, and SCOTUS has never changed that "I know it when I see it." remark from Potter Stewart. Presumably the defense will be that the book has literary or scientific value, I have no idea if this particular work violates it or not, and really none of the newsies know either, yet anyway.
This one's for obscenity, I have no idea if he violated the laws on it, but we've dealt with cases on this before, and IIRC the Miller test is used for this sort of thing:
Whether "the average person, applying contemporary community standards", would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest,
Whether the work depicts/describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by applicable state law,
Whether the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value
If it hits all three, its obscene, and SCOTUS has never changed that "I know it when I see it." remark from Potter Stewart. Presumably the defense will be that the book has literary or scientific value, I have no idea if this particular work violates it or not, and really none of the newsies know either, yet anyway.
The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.
- Albert Einstein
King of Cairhien 20-7-2
Chancellor of the Landsraad, Archduke of Is'Mod
- Albert Einstein
King of Cairhien 20-7-2
Chancellor of the Landsraad, Archduke of Is'Mod
This should make for an interesting debate
- 21/12/2010 02:19:39 PM
796 Views
Free speech. An easy way for me to tell is replace the topic with the word "murder"
- 21/12/2010 02:33:17 PM
427 Views
I don't know. Isn't it illegal to write a how to for making a bomb?
- 21/12/2010 02:51:34 PM
455 Views
Incitement to racial hatred isn't illegal in the US, I believe...
- 21/12/2010 04:02:58 PM
425 Views
Depends on what's in the book
- 21/12/2010 03:01:53 PM
512 Views
I think they are on slippery slope but a fairly firm part up near the top
- 21/12/2010 03:46:58 PM
466 Views
What about a textbook, detailing how to make explosives?
- 21/12/2010 04:13:02 PM
517 Views
do you want him to be able to pick up a book givining him detailed instructions on how to kill you
- 21/12/2010 05:31:09 PM
432 Views
First Amendment free speech protections were written to provide just that.
- 22/12/2010 06:56:28 AM
408 Views
As is the case so often of late, impossible to tell as there isn't enough information.
- 21/12/2010 06:33:29 PM
435 Views
The guy is gross and disgusting of course, but what is in the book?
- 22/12/2010 01:21:13 AM
443 Views