United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Dyson v. Stein, 401 U.S. 200 (1971)

Dyson v. Stein

No. 41

Argued April 30, 1970

Reargued November 16, 1970

Decided February 23, 1971

401 U.S. 200

Syllabus

Appellee newspaper publisher, who had been charged with violating a Texas law prohibiting the possession of obscene materials, brought this action in a federal district court for an injunction to prevent the Dallas police from arresting him and seizing his property on obscenity grounds without a prior judicial determination of obscenity and for a declaration of the rights of the parties with respect to the statute. A three-judge court was convened and issued declaratory and injunctive relief, holding two parts of the statute unconstitutional and ruling that another part would be constitutional only if the obscenity definition was changed.

Held: There was no finding of irreparable injury to appellee, and hence no proper basis for federal interference with the pending state criminal prosecution. Younger v. Harris, ante, p. 401 U. S. 37; Samuels v. Mackell, ante, p. 401 U. S. 66.

300 F.Supp. 602, vacated and remanded.

Page 401 U. S. 201