Gelling v. State of Texas

Citation343 U.S. 960,96 L.Ed. 1359,72 S.Ct. 1002
Decision Date02 June 1952
Docket NumberNo. 707,707
PartiesW. L. GELLING, Appellant, v. STATE OF TEXAS
CourtUnited States Supreme Court
Concurring Opinion of Justice Jackson June 9, 1952.

Messrs. Robert H. Park, Herbert Wechsler, Philip J. O'Brien, Jr. and Sidney Schreiber, for appellant.

Messrs. Price Daniel, Attorney General of Texas, and E. Jacobson, Assistant Attorney General, for appelee.

Mr. Justice FRANKFURTER, concurring in the judgment of reversal:

The appellant here was convicted under an ordinance of the city of Marshall, Texas, for exhibiting a picture after being denied a license by the local Board of Censors, and the conviction was affirmed by the Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas. The ordinance authorizes a local Board of Censors to deny a license for the showing of a motion picture, which the Board is 'of the opinion' is 'of such character as to be prejudicial to the best interests of the people of said City,' and makes the showing of a picture without a license a misdemeanor. This ordinance offends the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment on the score of indefiniteness. See my concurring opinion in Burstyn v. Wilson, 343 U.S. 495, 72 S.Ct. 777 and Winters v. New York, 333 U.S. 507, 68 S.Ct. 665, 92 L.Ed. 840.

Mr. Justice DOUGLAS, concurring.

The appellant was convicted under an ordinance of the city of Marshall, Texas, for exhibiting a picture after being denied permission to do so by the local Board of Censors. The conviction was affirmed by the Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas. The ordinance authorizes a local Board of Censors to deny permission for the showing of a motion picture, which in the opinion of the Board is 'of such character as to be prejudicial to the best interests of the people of said City,' and it makes the showing of a picture after refusal of permission a misdemeanor.

The evil of prior restraint, condemned by Near v. Minnesota, 283 U.S. 697, 51 S.Ct. 625, 75 L.Ed. 1357, in the case of newspapers and by Burstyn v. Wilson, 343 U.S. 495, 72 S.Ct. 777, in the case of motion pictures, is present here in flagrant form. If a board of censors can tell the American people what it is in their best interests to see or to read or to hear (cf. Public Utilities Comm'n v. Pollak, 343 U.S. 451, 72 S.Ct. 813), then thought is regimented,...

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52 cases
  • Shuttlesworth v. City of Birmingham
    • United States
    • Alabama Court of Appeals
    • November 2, 1965
    ...L.Ed. 1574 (1948); Kunz v. People of State of New York, 340 U.S. 290, 71 S.Ct. 312, 95 L.Ed. 280 (1951); Gelling v. State of Texas, 343 U.S. 960, 72 S.Ct. 1002, 96 L.Ed. 1359 (1952); Fowler v. State of Rhode Island, 345 U.S. 67, 73 S.Ct. 526, 97 L.Ed. 828 (1953); and Staub v. City of Baxley......
  • Furr v. Town of Swansea
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — District of South Carolina
    • October 12, 1984
    ...71 S.Ct. 325, 95 L.Ed. 267 (1951); Burstyn, Inc. v. Wilson, 343 U.S. 495, 72 S.Ct. 777, 96 L.Ed. 1098 (1952); Gelling v. Texas, 343 U.S. 960, 72 S.Ct. 1002, 96 L.Ed. 1359 (1952); Superior Films, Inc. v. Department of Education, 346 U.S. 587, 74 S.Ct. 286, 98 L.Ed. 329 (1954); Staub v. Baxle......
  • Interstate Circuit, Inc v. City of Dallas United Artists Corporation v. City of Dallas, s. 56
    • United States
    • U.S. Supreme Court
    • April 22, 1968
    ...vague: 'of such character as to be prejudicial to the best interests of the people of said City,' Gelling v. State of Texas, 343 U.S. 960, 72 S.Ct. 1002, 96 L.Ed. 1359 (1952); 'moral, educational or amusing and harmless,' Superior Films, Inc. v. Department of Education, 346 U.S. 587, 74 S.C......
  • Times Film Corporation v. City of Chicago 19 20, 1960
    • United States
    • U.S. Supreme Court
    • January 23, 1961
    ...Chicago, 1954, 3 Ill.2d 334, 121 N.E.2d 585. 3. Joseph Burstyn, Inc., v. Wilson, supra ('sacrilegious'); Gelling v. State of Texas, 1952, 343 U.S. 960, 72 S.Ct. 1002, 96 L.Ed. 1359 ('prejudicial to the best interests of the people of said City'); Commercial Pictures Corp. v. Regents of Univ......
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1 books & journal articles
  • The South Counterattacks: the Anti-Naacp Laws
    • United States
    • Political Research Quarterly No. 12-2, June 1959
    • June 1, 1959
    ...Niemotko v. Maryland, 340 U.S. 268 (1951); Kunz v. New York, 340 U.S. 290 (1951);Burstyn v. Wilson, 343 U.S. 495 (1952); Gelling v. Texas, 343 U.S. 960 (1952); SuperiorFilms Inc. v. Department of Education of Ohio, 346 U.S. 587 Prior restraint has been permitted by the Court under certain c......

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