ASSOCIATE JUSTICE WILLIAM J. BRENNAN JR. - TYPED SYLLABUS SIGNED CIRCA 1977 - HFSID 84228

WILLIAM J. BRENNAN, JR
William J. Brennan, Jr. signs a typed syllabus of the court's opinion on "Roth v. United States and Alberts v. California".
Typed Syllabus signed: "Wm J Brennan Jr" at conclusion (page 6), 6p, 8½x11. Associate Justice Brennan delivers the Court's opinion on "Roth v. United States and Alberts v. California" regarding the protection of obscenity under the First and Fourteenth Amendments. Circa 1977. In part: "These two cases, decided together, involved convictions for violating in one instance a federal statute providing that obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, or indecent material is nonmailable, and in a second, a California statute punishing one who wilfully (sic) and lewdly writes or otherwise produces obscene or indecent material or who advertises such material. The portions of the opinions included below deal with issues of free speech and free press and that of unconstitutional vagueness...The dispositive question is whether obscenity is utterance within the area of protected speech and press. Although this is the first time the question has been squarely presented to this Court, either under the First Amendment or under the Fourteenth Amendment, expressions found in numerous opinions indicate that this Court has always assumed that obscenity is not protected by the freedoms of speech and press...." Concludes: "In summary, then, we hold that these statutes, applied according to the proper standard for judging obscenity, do not offend constitutional safeguards against convictions based upon protected material, or fail to give men in acting adequate notice of what is prohibited...." William J. Brennan, Jr. (1906-1997), appointed Associate Justice by President Eisenhower, served from October 6, 1956 until his retirement on July 20, 1990. He believed that only by making the Constitution a "living document" could America's system of government keep up with the needs of society -- in direct opposition to the "strict constructionist" approach of conservative colleagues such as Justices Rehnquist and Scalia. Creased at lower left blank corners. Staple holes at upper left blank corner. Lightly soiled. Show through of pencil note (unknown hand) at upper margin of signature page. Overall, fine and interesting.