A Book Named 'John Cleland'S Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure' et al. v. Attorney General of Massachusetts

Decided March 21, 1966. William Joseph Brennan Jr. delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 368 · 383 U.S. 413 (1966) · Cited 892 times

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How the Justices voted

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. Source: the Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.), Washington University.

Precedents cited

Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.

• Roth v. United States · 354 U.S. 476 (1957)
• Jacobellis v. Ohio · 378 U.S. 184 (1964)
• Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire · 315 U.S. 568 (1942)
• Beauharnais v. Illinois · 343 U.S. 250 (1952)
• Manual Enterprises, Inc. v. Day · 370 U.S. 478 (1962)
• New York Times Co. v. Sullivan · 376 U.S. 254 (1964)
• Schneider v. State (Town of Irvington) · 308 U.S. 147 (1939)
• Kovacs v. Cooper · 336 U.S. 77 (1949)
• Schenck v. United States · 249 U.S. 47 (1919)
• Gitlow v. New York · 268 U.S. 652 (1925)
• Grosjean v. American Press Co. · 297 U.S. 233 (1936)
• Bridges v. California · 314 U.S. 252 (1941)
• Joseph Burstyn, Inc. v. Wilson · 343 U.S. 495 (1952)
• Kingsley International Pictures Corp. v. Regents of the University · 360 U.S. 684 (1959)
• Fiske v. Kansas · 274 U.S. 380 (1927)

Cited by

Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.

• Marks v. United States · 430 U.S. 188 (1977)
• Miller v. California · 413 U.S. 15 (1973)
• Paris Adult Theatre I v. Slaton · 413 U.S. 49 (1973)
• Hamling v. United States · 418 U.S. 87 (1974)
• Interstate Circuit, Inc. v. City of Dallas · 390 U.S. 676 (1968)
• California v. LaRue · 409 U.S. 109 (1972)
• FW/PBS, Inc. v. City of Dallas · 493 U.S. 215 (1990)
• Ginsberg v. New York · 390 U.S. 629 (1968)
• Brockett v. Spokane Arcades, Inc. · 472 U.S. 491 (1985)
• Ward v. Illinois · 431 U.S. 767 (1977)
• Pope v. Illinois · 481 U.S. 497 (1987)
• Federal Election Commission v. Wisconsin Right to Life, Inc. · 551 U.S. 449 (2007)
• Redrup v. New York · 386 U.S. 767 (1967)
• Jenkins v. Georgia · 418 U.S. 153 (1974)
• Stanley v. Georgia · 394 U.S. 557 (1969)
• Osborne v. Ohio · 495 U.S. 103 (1990)
• United States v. 12 200-Ft. Reels of Super 8MM. Film · 413 U.S. 123 (1973)
• Ashcroft v. American Civil Liberties Union · 535 U.S. 564 (2002)
• Kaplan v. California · 413 U.S. 115 (1973)
• Buckley v. Valeo · 424 U.S. 1 (1976)
• Payne v. Tennessee · 501 U.S. 808 (1991)
• New York v. Ferber · 458 U.S. 747 (1982)
• Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition · 535 U.S. 234 (2002)
• Erznoznik v. City of Jacksonville · 422 U.S. 205 (1975)
• Waters v. Churchill · 511 U.S. 661 (1994)
• Nichols v. United States · 511 U.S. 738 (1994)
• Federal Communications Commission v. Pacifica Foundation · 438 U.S. 726 (1978)
• Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Assn. · 564 U.S. 786 (2011)
• Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc. v. Democratic National Committee · 412 U.S. 94 (1973)
• Rabe v. Washington · 405 U.S. 313 (1972)

Official text

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Source: the U.S. Reports via govinfo.gov; authoring Justice and vote lineup from the Supreme Court Database (Washington University). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-07-03. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).