“Protecting” Children: A Pretext for Government Censorship

I. Introduction The First Amendment to the United States Constitution provides that “Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.” Despite this most hallowed of constitutional imperatives, both Congress and the states have found numerous occasions upon which to pass such laws, and continue to do so today. Nowhere is this tendency more poignantly exemplified than in the arena of sexually explicit speech. At present, laws restricting speech that …

…printing presses of America and off the distribution systems for all printed literature. . . . Today this Court sits as the Nation's board of censors. With all respect I do not know of any group in the country less qualified first, to know what obscenity is when they see it, and second, to have any considered judgment as to what the deleterious or beneficial impact of a particular publication may be on minds either young or old.