Case Categories: Movies, Video Games, and Comics

• American Amusement Machine Association v. Kendrick (7th Cir.) (2001)

  American Amusement Machine Association v. Kendrick (7th Cir. 2001) ruled that an ordinance limiting minors' access to violent video games violated the First...

• Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association (2011)

  Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association (2011) ruled that a state law prohibiting sale of violent video games to minors violated the First Amendment...

• Burstyn v. Wilson (1952)

  In Burstyn v. Wilson (1952), the Supreme Court said a New York law allowing a film to be banned on the basis of its being sacrilegious violated the First...

• Byrne v. Karalexis (1969, 1971)

  Byrne v. Karalexis (1969) stayed an injunction against prosecutions of theater owners for showing an obscene movie. Dissenters said the movie was protected by...

• Gelling v. Texas (1952)

  In Gelling v. Texas, the court reversed a Texas court decision that convicted W. L. Gelling. Gelling had shown a motion picture prohibited by the Board of...

• Grove Press v. Gerstein (1964)

  Grove Press v. Gerstein rejected a ban of Henry Miller’s Tropic of Cancer, one of the most censored books in history, by saying it had some redeeming literary...

• Interstate Circuit, Inc. v. Dallas (1968)

  Interstate Circuit, Inc. v. Dallas (1968) rejected a city’s film censorship ordinance that was too vague for determining whether films were suitable for...

• Jenkins v. Georgia (1974)

  In Jenkins v. Georgia (1974), the Court overturned the conviction of a theater manager who had been prosecuted for showing a film deemed obscene by local and...

• Katzev v. County of Los Angeles (Cal.) (1959)

  In Katzev v. County of Los Angeles (Cal. 1959), the California Supreme Court used the First Amendment to strike down an ordinance prohibiting the sale of crime...

• Kingsley International Pictures v. Board of Regents (1959)

  In Kingsley International Pictures v. Board of Regents (1959) the Court reviewed constitutional issues of prior restraint raised by the practice of states...

• Kovacs v. Cooper (1949)

  Kovacs v. Cooper (1949) upheld the conviction of a man under a city ordinance that prohibited the use of sound trucks that emitted “loud and raucous”...

• Meese v. Keene (1987)

  Meese v. Keene (1987) upheld the authority of the government to classify foreign films as propaganda. The Court held that the enabling statute did not abridge...

• Public Utilities Commission v. Pollak (1952)

  Public Utilities Commission v. Pollak (1952) determined that First Amendment freedoms were not unreasonably inhibited by the broadcast of radio programs on...

• Rabe v. Washington (1972)

  Rabe v. Washington (1972) overturned on First Amendment grounds the conviction of a drive-in theater manager who had been convicted under anti-obscenity laws...

• Superior Films v. Department of Education (1954)

  Superior Films v. Department of Education (1954) said state laws allowing administrative agencies to refuse licenses to objectionable movies violated the First...

• Teitel Film Corp. v. Cusack (1968)

  In Teitel Film Corp. v. Cusack (1968) didn’t address the censorship and First Amendment issues but dealt with the administrative details of America’s...

• Times Film Corp. v. City of Chicago (1961)

  In Times Film Corp. v. City of Chicago (1961) ruled that requiring film exhibitors to apply for licenses before showing their motion pictures did not violate...

• Vance v. Universal Amusement Co., Inc. (1980)

  Vance v. Universal Amusement Co., Inc. (1980) said a Texas law regulating obscene films was unconstitutional prior restraint in violation of the First Amendment...