{"ID":59359,"name":"Butler v. Michigan","href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/cases\/1956\/16","view_count":0,"docket_number":"16","additional_docket_numbers":null,"manner_of_jurisdiction":"Appeal","first_party":"Butler","second_party":"Michigan","timeline":[{"event":"Argued","dates":[-416862000],"href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/case_timeline\/case_timeline\/47076"},{"event":"Decided","dates":[-405453600],"href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/case_timeline\/case_timeline\/47077"}],"lower_court":null,"facts_of_the_case":"\u003Cp\u003EJohn H. Griffin\u2019s book \u0026lt;i\u0026gt;The Devil Rides Outside\u0026lt;\/i\u0026gt; traces the spiritual development of an unnamed American musician as he vacillates between choosing a life in a Benedictine monastery and the lustfulness of the outside world. When Alfred Butler, the Detroit district sales manager of Pocket Books, sold a copy of the book to a police officer, he was arrested and charged with violating a Michigan obscenity statute. At trial, the judge held that the book contained obscene language that could lead to the corruption of minors and that the passages in question lacked redeeming literary value. Butler was convicted and fined $100. Butler appealed and argued that the statute violated his right to free speech under the First and Fourteenth Amendments. The Supreme Court of Michigan denied Butler\u2019s application for leave to appeal.\u003C\/p\u003E\n","question":"\u003Cp\u003EDoes the Michigan obscenity statute violate free speech rights protected by the First and Fourteenth Amendments?\u00a0\u003C\/p\u003E\n","conclusion":"\u003Cp\u003EYes. Justice Felix Frankfurter delivered the opinion of the 9-0 majority. The Court held that the Michigan statute unduly restricted the freedom of speech because it took only a single trial judge\u2019s determination that the material could potentially corrupt minors to prohibit its dissemination. The Court noted that, although the State may attempt to protect juvenile innocence as part of its power to promote general welfare, the restrictions should be reasonably related to the evils of obscene material.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EJustice Hugo L. Black concurred without writing a separate opinion.\u00a0\u003C\/p\u003E\n","advocates":[{"advocate":{"ID":36526,"name":"Manuel Lee Robbins","href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/people\/manuel_lee_robbins","view_count":0,"last_name":"Robbins","roles":null,"thumbnail":null,"length_of_service":0,"identifier":"manuel_lee_robbins"},"advocate_description":"for the Petitioner","href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/case_advocate\/case_advocate\/21590"},{"advocate":{"ID":23155,"name":"Edmund E. 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