Jacobellis v. Ohio

Jacobellis v. Ohio
Argued March 26, 1963
Decided June 22, 1964
Full case nameNico Jacobellis v. Ohio
Citations378 U.S. 184 (more)
84 S. Ct. 1676; 12 L. Ed. 2d 793; 1964 U.S. LEXIS 822; 28 Ohio Op. 2d 101
Case history
PriorDefendant convicted, Court of Common Pleas of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, 6-3-60; affirmed, 175 N.E.2d 123 (Ohio Ct. App. 1961); affirmed, 179 N.E.2d 777 (Ohio 1962); probable jurisdiction noted, 371 U.S. 808 (1962).
SubsequentNone
Holding
The First Amendment, as applied through the Fourteenth, protected a movie theater manager from being prosecuted for possessing and showing a film that was not obscene.
Court membership
Chief Justice
Earl Warren
Associate Justices
Hugo Black · William O. Douglas
Tom C. Clark · John M. Harlan II
William J. Brennan Jr. · Potter Stewart
Byron White · Arthur Goldberg
Case opinions
PluralityBrennan, joined by Goldberg
ConcurrenceBlack, joined by Douglas
ConcurrenceStewart
ConcurrenceWhite
DissentWarren, joined by Clark
DissentHarlan
Laws applied
U.S. Const. amends. I, XIV; Ohio Rev. Code § 2905.34

Jacobellis v. Ohio, 378 U.S. 184 (1964), was a United States Supreme Court decision handed down in 1964 involving whether the state of Ohio could, consistent with the First Amendment, ban the showing of the Louis Malle film The Lovers (Les Amants), which the state had deemed obscene.[1]

  1. ^ Jacobellis v. Ohio, 378 U.S. 184 (1964).