In January 1987, Washington state officials were faced with an obscene problem: Hustler magazine was being sold at a local convenience store without proper restrictions. To remedy this situation, authorities brought charges against the store owners under the state's anti-pornography laws. This led to a legal battle that would last for years and result in a landmark Supreme Court decision regarding freedom of speech and the First Amendment. Read on to learn more about what happened during this historic case.
In 1984, Larry Flynt, the publisher of Hustler magazine, sued Jerry Falwell, a conservative televangelist, after he called Hustler "the filthiest, most vile pornographic publication on the face of the Earth." The court sided with Falwell, but Flynt appealed the decision, leading to another ruling in his favor. By this time, however, the damage had been done - Washington state had already banned sales of Hustler within its borders. But things were about to get even messier when the state decided to charge the store owners who sold it with obscenity violations. This case would eventually make it all the way to the Supreme Court, where a decision would be made that would impact free speech in America forever. At stake was whether or not obscenity could be regulated by governments, and if so, how far those regulations could go. Here is what happened next.
The case began in November 1986, when two employees of a Spokane-area convenience store were charged with felony obscenity counts. These charges stemmed from their sale of Hustler magazine without proper restrictions, which at the time required that such publications be wrapped in paper before being displayed on store shelves. After a lengthy trial, both men were acquitted - but the following year, the State Supreme Court overturned that verdict and ordered new proceedings. In January 1987, a grand jury indicted the retailers again for selling obscene material. This sparked an uproar among civil liberties groups, who argued that such laws were unconstitutional and infringed upon the First Amendment right to freedom of expression. Meanwhile, Hustler's parent company, Larry Flynt Publications, filed suit against Washington state, arguing that the law was too vague and could be used to censor any kind of speech deemed offensive. The case went all the way to the Supreme Court in June 1989.
So what exactly happened during this historic case? For starters, the court ruled that states can regulate obscenity as long as they don't make it impossible for adults to access materials they choose to read. However, they also said that the government must prove that the material has "serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value." This ruling essentially struck down Washington's anti-pornography law and set a precedent for future cases involving free speech. It also opened up a whole new debate about what constitutes obscenity and how much power governments should have over our reading habits.
But there was more to come from this landmark decision. In 2003, the Supreme Court heard another case involving obscenity - and this time, it upheld California's ban on the sale of violent video games to minors. This decision was seen as a backtrack from the previous one but still allowed some leeway for regulation. Today, states continue to grapple with issues of censorship and free speech, with many debating whether or not certain types of content should be restricted from public view. But whatever side you take, it's clear that the 1987 Washington State Obscenity Charges had a major impact on American culture and society at large.