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| | | Joseph Burstyn, Inc. v. Wilson (docket #: 522) (1952)
[Findlaw]
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Secondary Link
| Joseph Burstyn, Inc. v. Wilson
[Legal Information Institute]
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Argument Date
| 04/24/1952 |
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Decided
| 05/26/1952 |
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Supreme Court Vote
| 9-0 |
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Note
| The Joseph Burstyn holding overruled Film Corporation v. Industrial Commission of Ohio (1915). It was also the first time the Court, as Laura Wittern-Keller and Raymond Haberski have noted, considered the question of sacrilege as a censorial idea. |
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Supreme Court Ruling
| First Amendment claim sustained. |
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| | | Issue | Whether a New York Education Law that prohibited the commercial showing of any motion picture film without a license, and authorized denial of a license on a censor’s conclusion that a film was "sacrilegious," violated the First Amendment. Could the New York Board of Regents ban Roberto Rossellini’s “The Miracle” under regulations barring "sacrilegious" films? | |
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Majority Opinion
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Clark, J., |
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Concurring Opinion
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Reed, J. (conucurring in judgment), & Frankfurter, J. (concurring in judgment joined by Jackson, J., & Burton, J.) |
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Certiorari Granted
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02/04/1952 |
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Lower Court
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New York Court of Appeals |
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Lower Court Ruling
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First Amendment claim denied |
| Lawyers |
Ephraim S. London (for Appellant)
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Charles A. Brind, Jr. & Wendell P. Brown, Solicitor General of New York (for Appellees)
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| Briefs |
Morris L. Ernst, Osmond Fraenkel, Arthur Garfield Hays, Herbert Monte Levy, Emanuel Redfield, Shad Polier, Will Maslow, Leo Pfeffer, Herman Seid & Eberhard P. Deutsch filed a brief for the American Civil Liberties Union.
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| News |
"Maryland's Censors," Washington Post, July 1, 1952, p. 8
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"'Miracle' Decision Hailed as Victory; Burstyn, Film Distributor, and London, His Attorney, Get Scrolls at Luncheon," New York Times, June 26, 1952, p. 26
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| Other |
de Grazia, Edward, GIRLS LEAN BACK EVERYWHERE: THE LAW OF OBSCENITY AND THE ASSAULT ON GENIUS (1992), pp. 233, 293, 312, 407, 619, 621
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Emerson, Thomas I., THE SYSTEM OF FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION (1970), pp. 468, 513
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Heins, Marjorie, "The 'Miracle' of Burstyn v. Wilson," in Joseph Russomano, editor, DEFENDING THE FIRST: COMMENTARY ON FIRST AMENDMENT ISSUES AND CASES (2005), pp. 61-84
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Note, "Motion Pictures and the First Amendment," 60 Yale L. J. 696 (1951)
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Westin, Alan, THE MIRACLE CASE: THE SUPREME COURT AND MOVIES (1961)
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Wiecek, William M., THE BIRTH OF THE MODERN CONSTITUTION: THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT, 1941-1953 (Holmes Devise, vol. XII, 2006), pp. 197-200
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| Commentary |
Editorial, "License All Movie Houses, Censors' Attorney Proposes," Washington Post, June 29, 1952, sect. M, p. 1
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