Kaplan v. California
Decided June 21, 1973. Warren Earl Burger delivered the opinion of the Court.
Docket 71-1422 · 413 U.S. 115 (1973) · Cited 274 times
We don’t yet publish a summary of this opinion — read the official text below for the Court’s holding and reasoning.
How the Justices voted
Decided 5–4.
Majority · 5
- Warren Earl Burger · delivered the opinion of the Court
- Byron Raymond White
- Harry Andrew Blackmun
- Lewis Franklin Powell Jr.
- William Hubbs Rehnquist
Dissenting · 4
- Potter Stewart
- Thurgood Marshall
- William Joseph Brennan Jr. · filed a dissenting opinion
- William Orville Douglas · filed a dissenting opinion
“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)
- Mishkin v. New York · 383 U.S. 502 (1966)
- Jacobellis v. Ohio · 378 U.S. 184 (1964)
- Smith v. California · 361 U.S. 147 (1959)
- A Book Named \John Cleland's Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure\" v. Attorney General of Massachusetts" · 383 U.S. 413 (1966)
- Times Film Corp. v. City of Chicago · 365 U.S. 43 (1961)
- Freedman v. Maryland · 380 U.S. 51 (1965)
- Joseph Burstyn, Inc. v. Wilson · 343 U.S. 495 (1952)
- Marcus v. Search Warrant of Property · 367 U.S. 717 (1961)
- United States v. Thirty-Seven (37) Photographs · 402 U.S. 363 (1971)
- Ginzburg v. United States · 383 U.S. 463 (1966)
- A Quantity of Copies of Books v. Kansas · 378 U.S. 205 (1964)
- Kingsley Books, Inc. v. Brown · 354 U.S. 436 (1957)
- United States v. Reidel · 402 U.S. 351 (1971)
- Redrup v. New York · 386 U.S. 767 (1967)
- Kaplan v. California · 413 U.S. 115 (1973)
- Kingsley International Pictures Corp. v. Regents of the University · 360 U.S. 684 (1959)
- Superior Films, Inc. v. Department of Ed. of Ohio · 346 U.S. 587 (1954)
Official text
Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)
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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).