Roth v. United States

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Roth v. United States
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued April 22, 1957 Decided June 24, 1957
Full case name	Samuel Roth v. United States; David S. Alberts v. California
Citations	354 U.S. 476 (more) 77 S. Ct. 1304; 1 L. Ed. 2d 1498; 1957 U.S. LEXIS 587; 14 Ohio Op. 2d 331; 1 Media L. Rep. 1375
Case history
Prior	United States v. Roth, 237 F.2d 796 (2d Cir. 1957); cert. granted, 352 U.S. 964 (1957); People v. Alberts, 138 Cal.App.2d Supp. 909, 292 P.2d 90 (1955); probable jurisdiction noted, 352 U.S. 962 (1957).
Holding
Obscenity is not protected by the First Amendment; more strictly defined "obscene."
Court membership
Chief Justice Earl Warren Associate Justices Hugo Black · Felix Frankfurter William O. Douglas · Harold H. Burton Tom C. Clark · John M. Harlan II William J. Brennan Jr. · Charles E. Whittaker
Case opinions
Majority	Brennan, joined by Frankfurter, Burton, Clark, Whittaker
Concurrence	Warren (in the judgment of the court only)
Dissent	Harlan
Dissent	Douglas, joined by Black
Superseded by
Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15 (1973)

Roth v. United States, 354 U.S. 476 (1957), along with its companion case Alberts v. California, was a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States which redefined the constitutional test for determining what constitutes obscene material unprotected by the First Amendment.^[1] The Court, in an opinion by Justice William J. Brennan Jr. created a test to determine what constituted obscene material: Whether the average person, applying contemporary community standards would find that the material appeals to a prurient interest in sex, and whether the material was utterly without redeeming social value. Although the Court upheld Roth’s conviction and allowed some obscenity prosecutions, it drastically loosened obscenity laws.^[2] The decision dissatisfied both social conservatives who thought that it had gone too far in tolerating sexual imagery, and liberals who felt that it infringed on the rights of consenting adults.^[3]

The decision was superseded by Miller v. California which removed the "utterly without redeeming social value" test, and replaced it with without "serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value". In that case, Justice Brennan dissented, repudiating his previous position in Roth, arguing that states could not ban the sale, advertisement, or distribution of obscene materials to consenting adults.^[4]