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
PER CURIAM.
The appellee, Stein, published a bi-weekly newspaper, the Dallas
Notes. Stein was charged with two violations of Art. 527, § 1, of
the Texas Penal Code, which then prohibited, among other things,
the possession of obscene materials.
* While these two
cases were pending
Page 401 U. S. 202
in state courts, Stein brought the present action in a federal
district court under 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983, 1985, representing himself
and a class consisting of present and future employees of and
contributors to his newspaper. The defendants were the district
attorney of Dallas County, and the Dallas chief of police. He
sought:
"[P]ermanent injunctive relief against the Dallas Police
Department, requiring that . . . there be no arrest of plaintiff,
nor seizure of his property on grounds of obscenity without a prior
judicial determination of the obscene character of the material in
question; . . ."
". . . That the Court adjudge, decree and declare the rights of
the parties with respect to the application of Article 527 of the
Texas Penal Code;"
". . . That the Court grant such other and further relief as is
just and equitable."
A three-judge court was convened. 28 U.S.C. § 2284. That court
refused to require a hearing on the
Page 401 U. S. 203
obscene character of the material before its seizure and the
arrest of the plaintiff. It held that the request for such relief
was "based on the alleged harassment and . . . not an attack upon
the constitutionality of a statute." The court went on to emphasize
that its consideration did
"not in any way involve an appraisal of the constitutionality of
the application of Article 527 to Plaintiff. Our sole concern is
the determination of whether the statute is constitutionally
defective on its face."
The three-judge court then turned to the statute itself, and
held that §§ 1 and 2 were unconstitutional, and that § 3 would be
constitutional only if the definition of obscenity were changed
somewhat. The court issued appropriate declaratory and injunctive
relief effectuating its conclusions.
300 F.
Supp. 602 (1969). Texas officials appealed, and we noted
probable jurisdiction. 396 U.S. 954 (1969).
Today we have again stressed the rule that federal intervention
affecting pending state criminal prosecutions, either by injunction
or by declaratory judgment, is proper only where irreparable injury
is threatened.
Douglas v. City of Jeannette, 319 U.
S. 157 (1943). The existence of such injury is a matter
to be determined carefully under the facts of each case. In this
case, the District Court made no findings of any irreparable injury
as defined by our decisions today; therefore, the judgment of the
District Court is vacated and the case is remanded for
reconsideration in light of
Younger v. Harris, ante, p.
401 U. S. 37, and
Samuels v. Mackell, ante, p.
401 U. S. 66.
See also Boyle v. Landry, ante, p.
401 U. S. 77.
It is so ordered.
MR. JUSTICE WHITE concurs in the result.
[For concurring opinion of MR. JUSTICE STEWART,
see
ante, p.
401 U. S.
54.]
Page 401 U. S. 204
MR. JUSTICE BRENNAN, with whom MR. JUSTICE MARSHALL joins,
concurring in the result.
My Brother DOUGLAS' dissenting opinion describes graphically the
police conduct upon which appellee rested his allegations of bad
faith and harassment. If proved, these allegations would justify
federal intervention. The mass seizure of some two tons of the
issues of the newspaper without a prior judicial determination of
the alleged obscenity of the issues was unconstitutional.
Marcus v. Search Warrant, 367 U.
S. 717 (1961);
Bantam Books, Inc. v. Sullivan,
372 U. S. 58
(1963);
A Quantity of Books v. Kansas, 378 U.
S. 205 (1964). Similarly, the mass seizure of the tools
and equipment required to prepare the newspaper -- insofar as it
disabled appellee from publishing future issues -- infringed the
principle of
Near v. Minnesota, 283 U.
S. 697 (1931).
But these questions are not before us. The three-judge court
below remanded to a single judge for determination all questions
advanced by appellee except the contention that the Texas statute
was unconstitutional on its face, and the appellee does not
challenge this order of remand here. I, therefore, would reverse
the judgment of the District Court, except for paragraph 4, for the
reasons stated in my separate opinion in
Perez v. Ledesma,
ante, p.
401 U. S.
93.
* Texas Penal Code, Art. 527, 1961 Tex.Gen.Laws, c. 461, § 1,
provided:
"Section l. Whoever shall knowingly photograph, act in, pose
for, model for, print, sell, offer for sale, give away, exhibit,
televise, publish, or offer to publish, or have in his possession
or under his control, or otherwise distribute, make, display, or
exhibit any obscene book, magazine, story, pamphlet, paper,
writing, card, advertisement, circular, print, pictures,
photograph, motion picture film, image, cast, slide, figure,
instrument, statue, drawing, phonograph record, mechanical
recording, or presentation, or other article which is obscene,
shall be fined not more than One Thousand Dollars ($1,000) nor
imprisoned more than one (1) year in the county jail or both."
"Sec. 2. Whoever shall knowingly offer for sale, sell, give
away, exhibit, televise, or otherwise distribute, make, display, or
exhibit any obscene book, magazine, story, pamphlet, paper,
writing, card, advertisement, circular, print, pictures,
photograph, motion picture film, image, cast, slide, figure,
instrument, statue, drawing, phonograph record, mechanical
recording, or presentation, or other article which is obscene, to a
minor shall be fined not more than Two Thousand, Five Hundred
Dollars ($2,500) nor imprisoned in the county jail more than two
(2) years or both."
"Sec. 3. For purposes of this article the word 'obscene' is
defined as whether to the average person, applying contemporary
community standards, the dominant theme of the material taken as a
whole appeals to prurient interests. Provided, further, for the
purpose of this article, the term 'contemporary community
standards' shall in no case involve a territory or geographic area
less than the State of Texas."
"Sec. 4. Whoever shall be convicted for the second time of a
violation of this article shall be deemed guilty of a felony and
shall be punished by confinement in the State penitentiary for not
more than five (5) years or by a fine of not more than Ten Thousand
Dollars ($10,000) or by both such fine and imprisonment."
"Sec. 5. It shall be a defense to any charges brought hereunder
if such prohibited matter or act shall be regularly in use in any
bona fide, religious, educational or scientific institution or the
subject of a bona fide scientific investigation."
"The provisions of this Act shall not apply to any motion
pictures produced or manufactured as commercial motion pictures
which (1) have the seal under the Production Code of the Motion
Picture Association of America, Inc.; or (2) legally move in
interstate commerce under Federal Law; or (3) are legally imported
from foreign countries into the United States and have been passed
by a Customs Office of the United States Government at any port of
entry."
"The provisions of this Act shall not apply to any daily or
weekly newspaper."
"Sec. 6. The district courts of this State and the judges
thereof shall have full power, authority, and jurisdiction, upon
application by any district or county attorney within their
respective jurisdictions, to issue any and all proper restraining
orders, temporary and permanent injunctions, and any other writs
and processes appropriate to carry out and enforce the provisions
of this Act."
MR. JUSTICE DOUGLAS, dissenting.
I
The two raids in this case were search-and-destroy missions in
the Vietnamese sense of the phrase. In each case, the police came
at night. The first search warrant authorized a search and seizure
of "obscene articles and materials, to-wit: pictures, photographs,
drawings and obscene literature" concealed at a given
Page 401 U. S. 205
address. The seizures included: two tons of a newspaper (Dallas
Notes), one photograph enlarger, two portable typewriters, two
electric typewriters, one camera, "numerous obscene photographs,"
and $5.43 in money. [
Footnote
1] The second warrant was issued 16 days later, in response to
a claim that marihuana was concealed on the premises. It authorized
the officers "to search for and seize the said narcotic drug and
dangerous drug in accordance with the law in such cases provided."
Not finding any marihuana on the premises; the sergeant asked
instructions from his lieutenant. He was told to seize pornographic
literature and any equipment used to make it. He "didn't know what
to seize and what not to seize so [he] just took everything."
"Everything" included a Polaroid camera, a Kodak Brownie, a Flocon
camera, a Kodak lamp, a floating fixture lamp, a three-drawer desk
containing printers' supplies, a drafting square, a drafting table,
two drawing boards, a mailing tube, two telephones, a stapler, five
cardboard boxes containing documents, one electric typewriter, and
one typewriter desk. A poster of Mao Tse-tung, credit cards,
costume jewelry, cans of spices, a brown sweater, and
Page 401 U. S. 206
a statue of a man and woman in an embrace were also seized.
Thus, the newspaper Dallas Notes, a bi-monthly, was effectively put
out of business. [
Footnote
2]
It would be difficult to find in our books a more lawless
search-and-destroy raid, unless it be the one in
Kremen v.
United States, 353 U. S. 346. If
this search-and-destroy technique can be employed against this
Dallas newspaper, then it can be done to the New York Times, the
Washington Post the Seattle Post Intelligencer, the Yakima
Herald-Republic, the Sacramento Bee, and all the rest of our
newspapers. For, as I shall point out, the Texas statute governing
"obscenity" [
Footnote 3] is
plainly unconstitutional.
Page 401 U. S. 207
Government certainly has no power to close down newspapers. Even
censorship -- whether for obscenity, for irresponsible reporting or
editorials, or otherwise -- is taboo. As Chief Justice Hughes said
in
Near v. Minnesota, 283 U. S. 697,
decided in 1931:
"[T]he administration of government has become more complex, the
opportunities for malfeasance and corruption have multiplied, crime
has grown to most serious proportions, and the danger of its
protection by unfaithful officials and of the impairment of the
fundamental security of life and property by criminal alliances and
official neglect, emphasizes the primary need of a vigilant and
courageous press, especially in great cities. The fact that the
liberty of the press may be abused by miscreant purveyors of
scandal does not make any the less necessary the immunity of the
press from previous restraint in dealing with official misconduct.
Subsequent punishment for such abuses as may exist is the
appropriate remedy, consistent with constitutional privilege."
Id. at
283 U. S.
719-720.
I agree with that view.
It is said, however, that these issues are not before us, as the
case has been remanded to a single judge to pass on them. But we
deal with plain error, as the state statute is unconstitutional on
its face and we should put an end to lawless raids under it.
[
Footnote 4]
Page 401 U. S. 208
II
The constitutional mandate that government [
Footnote 5] "shall make no law . . . abridging the
freedom of speech, or of the press" precludes, in my view, any form
of censorship. Vicious, irresponsible, and depraved as the press
often is, the constitutional remedy is not censorship. [
Footnote 6] The antidote is education,
pinning our faith to the Jeffersonian creed that, by education, we
may, in time, become a mature people. [
Footnote 7]
Page 401 U. S. 209
I have set forth my views over and over again as to why the
First Amendment should be strictly construed, and they need not be
repeated here. It is difficult -- indeed, impossible -- to read the
constitutional mandate that government "shall make no law"
abridging freedom of the press to mean that government "may make
some laws" abridging that freedom. Certainly a strict
constructionist cannot so read it.
"The Court says it has been trying to balance the interests of
society in protecting itself from the supposed evils of obscene
material with the real interest in freedom of expression. There is
ample evidence that the clear and definite language of the first
amendment was intended to preclude the very problem of balancing
assumed by the Court. The first amendment holds that the interest
of society in freedom of expression [
Footnote 8] is more important than the harm that might
flow from obscene material. The very interest in protection from
injury from obscene material would be better served by allowing
each individual to make a free appraisal of pornographic material.
A hallmark of an immature and insecure society is the censorship of
ideas. Censorship, which insulates all from what some suppose to be
evil, merely magnifies that insecurity. If society does such a poor
job of educating itself so that four letter words and explicit
pictures are dangerous, the remedy is to improve the educational
process, not
Page 401 U. S. 210
to outlaw certain publications. While the first amendment does
not mandate better education, it does prohibit the censorship of
ideas. This use of a balancing test evidences a misconception of
the constitutional nature of society. There is nothing to balance.
Society's security flows directly and solely from the freedom and
security of each individual."
31 Albany L.Rev. 143, 151 (1967).
If I am correct in concluding that a State can make "no law"
censoring the press because of obscenity, then a publisher
threatened by such a law can go into a federal court to enjoin
state officials from enforcing the law, as I made clear in my
dissent in
Younger v. Harris, ante at
401 U. S. 59.
The special circumstances where such federal intervention is
permissible are not restricted to bad faith on the part of state
officials or the threat of multiple prosecutions. As Mr. Justice
Butler, writing for the Court, said in
Terrace v.
Thompson, 263 U. S. 197,
263 U. S.
214:
"Equity jurisdiction will be exercised to enjoin the threatened
enforcement of a state law which contravenes the Federal
Constitution wherever it is essential in order effectually to
protect property rights and the rights of persons against injuries
otherwise irremediable; and, in such a case, a person who, as an
officer of the State, is clothed with the duty of enforcing its
laws, and who threatens and is about to commence proceedings,
either civil or criminal, to enforce such a law against parties
affected, may be enjoined from such action by a federal court of
equity."
And see Watson v. Buck, 313 U.
S. 387,
313 U. S.
402.
No possible construction of this state law can save it. This is
not a situation where mere overbreadth of a state statute may have
chilling or crippling effects on First Amendment rights. This is a
case where Texas has
Page 401 U. S. 211
entered a field which the Constitution bars all the States and
the Federal Government from entering.
The Texas obscenity statute, as I view it, meets precisely the
hypothetical statute we discussed in
Watson v. Buck,
313 U. S. 387,
313 U. S.
402:
"It is, of course, conceivable that a statute might be
flagrantly and patently violative of express constitutional
prohibitions in every clause, sentence and paragraph, and in
whatever manner and against whomever an effort might be made to
apply it."
No clearer case justifying federal intervention to prevent a
state criminal trial can be imagined.
No pending prosecutions are sought to be enjoined, only future
ones. [
Footnote 9] Such an
injunction is not impermissible under 28 U.S.C. § 2283.
See
Dombrowski v. Pfister, 380 U. S. 479,
380 U. S. 484
n. 2, and my dissent in
Younger v. Harris, ante at
401 U. S. 65.
Appellee also asked for declaratory relief. If
Zwickler v.
Koota, 389 U. S. 241,
means anything, it means that such relief can also be granted.
III
If a publication deemed "obscene" is not under the umbrella of
the First Amendment, then I do not see how it enjoys many
constitutional safeguards. That which is out from under the First
Amendment would normally be subject to the police power of the
States. Yet the Constitution contains no standards or suggestions
of standards respecting the vast array of subjects that various
vocal groups would like to have suppressed -- obscenity, sacrilege,
un-Americanism, anti-clerical ideas, atheistic or
anti-ecclesiastical ideas, Communism, racism,
Page 401 U. S. 212
and so on. Under the Constitution as written, there are no
standards of "good" or "bad" for the press. Since there is no
constitutional definition of obscenity, the definition must be
largely, if not exclusively, for legislative determination. Absent
a controlling constitutional standard, I would think that a
legislature could treat literature as it treats sewage effluent or
infectious disease. That is not a happy prospect, for some would
put even the Song of Solomon under the ban. It is, I fear, where we
end once we lose our First Amendment moorings. Administrative
censorship, however, is one thing. Criminal punishment is quite
another. Publishing "obscene" literature cannot, as I view it, be
made a crime under our constitutional standards.
"Whatever 'obscenity' is, it is immeasurable as a crime and
delineable only as a sin. As a sin, it is present only in the minds
of some, and not in the minds of others. It is entirely too
subjective for legal sanction. There are as many different
definitions of obscenity as there are men, and they are as unique
to the individual as are his dreams."
Note, The Substantive Law of Obscenity: An Adventure in
Quicksand, 13 N.Y.L.F. 81, 131 (1967). What appeals to "prurient
interests" describes sin to some, but not to others, and seems to
me to be far too vague to pass muster as a criminal, as
distinguished from an administrative, statute. [
Footnote 10]
Page 401 U. S. 213
I see no help on the vagueness problem even if the test "utterly
without redeeming social importance" were added to the criminal
standard, as it was in
Jacobellis v. Ohio, 378 U.
S. 184,
378 U. S. 191.
[
Footnote 11] That is a
measurement which again is wholly subjective. It cannot be related
to anything but the judge's or jurors' sophistication or stage of
cultural development. Nor do I think the problem is helped by
introducing the concept of "contemporary community standards,"
whether that refers to the public at large or a local county or
town standard.
Id. at
378 U. S.
193.
The two tests -- this Court's and that of Texas -- seem to me to
be substantially identical. I do not see how either can be held to
be constitutional. The standard of guilt is wholly subjective. The
jurors can convict or acquit according to their own personal
tastes, their cultural standard, their literacy, and their
tolerance for opposed ideas. And the same would be true of judges.
It means that a book that is hailed as wholesome in one county may
be the cause of punishment in another county of the same State.
The evidence in obscenity prosecutions is usually expert
testimony. Analysts, English literature scholars, and others often
have helpful and informed views, one way or the other. It seems
impossible, if we continue to sanction the use of these vague
standards in criminal prosecutions, that verdicts will be rendered
which are based on the record, and not on the emotional factors
reflecting the prejudices of the judge or jurors.
Uncertainty, rather than certainty, is the standard. The book,
play, poem, or movie is approved or condemned on the basis of the
personal beliefs of the judge or jurors, not on the ban of a
statute containing clear and objective standards.
Page 401 U. S. 214
The concept of "utterly without redeeming social importance"
will divide even the experts. It is risky and perilous business to
send men to prison on such provocative issues, which confuse people
and create irreconcilable differences even among the judges who
sentence them or approve their convictions.
In these criminal cases dealing with obscenity, we leave people
confused and in the dark as to whether they are or are not
criminals. Criminal laws must give fair warning, and a person
receives no real warning when he crosses the line between the
lawful and the unlawful, under the Texas statute [
Footnote 12] or under the standard approved
by the Court.
Where constitutional rights may be infringed,
Winters v. New
York, 333 U. S. 507,
should be our guide. There, an "obscene" magazine was defined to
include those which "massed" stories of bloodshed and lust to
incite crimes.
Id. at
333 U. S. 513.
We held that standard to be too vague to satisfy constitutional
standards. [
Footnote 13]
"The standards of certainty in statutes punishing for offenses
is higher than in those depending primarily upon civil sanction for
enforcement. The crime 'must be defined with appropriate
definiteness.' . . . There must be ascertainable standards of
guilt. Men of common intelligence cannot be required to guess at
the meaning of the enactment.
Page 401 U. S. 215
The vagueness may be from uncertainty in regard to persons
within the scope of the act, . . . or in regard to the applicable
tests to ascertain guilt."
Id. at
333 U. S.
515-516.
And see Wright v. Georgia,
373 U. S. 284,
373 U. S. 292;
Smith v. California, 361 U. S. 147,
361 U. S. 151;
United States v. Harriss, 347 U.
S. 612;
Beauharnais v. Illinois, 343 U.
S. 250,
343 U. S. 264;
Williams v. United States, 341 U. S.
97;
Cantwell v. Connecticut, 310 U.
S. 296.
My view, however, is that any regime of censorship over
literature, whether expressed in a criminal statute [
Footnote 14] or an administrative [
Footnote 15] procedure, is
unconstitutional by reason of the command of the First
Amendment.
[
Footnote 1]
This indiscriminate seizure is hardly surprising, since none of
the officers knew what to seize, as the questioning of the
lieutenant in charge of the raid shows:
"Q. What instructions did you give the officers in effecting
this search and seizure as to what they were to do?"
"A. They were to search for any obscene material they could
find. All of our officers know what obscene material is."
"Q. What is obscene material?"
"A. Well, I wish you hadn't ask [
sic] that. I take that
back. They don't know, neither do I."
"Q. What instructions had you given them in terms of what they
were to do?"
"A. To search for obscene material and seize it."
"Q. What definition, if any, did you give them as to obscene
material?"
"A. I didn't."
[
Footnote 2]
Appellee Stein has since reached an agreement with the Dallas
Police Department by which it returned most of the property to him
in return for his execution of an Indemnity and Release Agreement.
The binding effect of such an agreement, which required Stein to
choose between the return of his property, so that he could
continue publishing, and assertion of his civil rights under such
provisions as 42 U.S.C. § 1983, is not at issue here.
The Dallas Police Department still holds
"film negatives, eight or ten photographs, one movie
advertisement poster, one litho copy of paper, and a representative
number of back issues of paper entitled 'Dallas Notes' or 'Notes
from the Underground.'"
[
Footnote 3]
Article 527 defined "obscene" as follows in § 3:
"[W]hether to the average person, applying contemporary
community standards, the dominant theme of the material taken as a
whole appeals to prurient interests. Provided, further, for the
purpose of this article, the term 'contemporary community
standards' shall in no case involve a territory or geographic area
less than the State of Texas."
After the three-judge court decision, Art. 527 was amended to
define "obscene" as
"material (a) the dominant theme of which, taken as a whole,
appeals to a prurient interest; (b) which is patently offensive
because it affronts contemporary community standards relating to
the description or representation of sexual matters; and (c) which
is utterly without redeeming social value."
And "prurient interest" was defined as
"a shameful or morbid interest in nudity, sex, or excretion,
which goes substantially beyond customary limits of candor in
description or representation of such matters. If it appears from
the character of the material or the circumstances of its
dissemination that the subject matter is designed for a specially
susceptible audience, the appeal of the subject matter shall be
judged with reference to such audience."
Tex.Penal Code, Art. 527, § 1 (Supp. 1970-1971).
[
Footnote 4]
The appellee did not appeal from the decision of the District
Court to remand the issue of harassment to a one-judge court,
apparently since the ruling that the statute was unconstitutional
made such further relief unnecessary, as all the harassment
resulted from the enforcement of the statute. In this Court,
appellee has argued that his "constitutional rights [are]
threatened by the existence of the Texas obscenity statute
and
the overbearing means chosen to enforce it." He has raised the
issue of harassment here, and the documentary evidence in support
of his claim is overwhelming.
[
Footnote 5]
The First Amendment, originally applicable only to the Federal
Government, was, by virtue of the Fourteenth Amendment, made
applicable to the States in 1931 in
Stromberg v.
California, 283 U. S. 359.
[
Footnote 6]
Thomas Jefferson wrote,
"I deplore . . . the putrid state into which our newspapers have
passed, and the malignity, the vulgarity, and mendacious spirit of
those who write them. . . . It is, however, an evil for which there
is no remedy -- our liberty depends on the freedom of the press,
and that cannot be limited without being lost."
Jefferson, Democracy, selected and arranged by S. Padover
150-151 (1939).
[
Footnote 7]
Mr. Justice Brandeis, concurring in
Whitney v.
California, 274 U. S. 357,
274 U. S.
375-376, said:
"Those who won our independence . . . believed that freedom to
think as you will and to speak as you think are means indispensable
to the discovery and spread of political truth; that, without free
speech and assembly, discussion would be futile; that with them,
discussion affords ordinarily adequate protection against the
dissemination of noxious doctrine; that the greatest menace to
freedom is an inert people; that public discussion is a political
duty; and that this should be a fundamental principle of the
American government. . . . Believing in the power of reason as
applied through public discussion, they eschewed silence coerced by
law -- the argument of force in its worst form. Recognizing the
occasional tyrannies of governing majorities, they amended the
Constitution so that free speech and assembly should be
guaranteed."
[
Footnote 8]
We deal with a large and considerable problem. There are those
who believe that an "ethic of sexuality joined with an ethic of the
wholeness of life" (F. Darling, Wilderness and Plenty 75 (1970))
has a close relation not only to population control, but to a
reverence for both the land and animal life.
[
Footnote 9]
The amended complaint asked for an injunction only against
future arrests and prosecutions under the Texas statute, Art. 527,
and a declaration that the statute was unconstitutional.
See n 3,
supra.
[
Footnote 10]
This business of leveling the power of the Federal or State
Government against a person in a criminal prosecution is an
"awesome" power, as MR. JUSTICE BLACK has stated:
"Experience, and wisdom flowing out of that experience, long ago
led to the belief that agents of government should not be vested
with power and discretion to define and punish as criminal past
conduct which had not been clearly defined as a crime in
advance."
Ginzburg v. United States, 383 U.
S. 463,
383 U. S. 477
(dissenting opinion).
[
Footnote 11]
See n 3,
supra.
[
Footnote 12]
Even the police have no guidance as to the kind of books to be
seized.
See n 1,
supra.
[
Footnote 13]
Even where First Amendment or other constitutional rights are
not involved, no one may be required "to speculate a to the meaning
of penal statutes."
Lanzetta v. New Jersey, 306 U.
S. 451,
306 U. S. 453.
Chief Justice Marshall said in
United States v.
Wiltberger, 5 Wheat. 76,
18 U. S. 105,
that, in determining the certainty needed in a penal law for its
validity, the "probability" that the legislature may have desired
to include a species of activity within an Act is not enough.
And see United States v. Lacher, 134 U.
S. 624,
134 U. S. 628;
Pierce v. United States, 314 U. S. 306.
[
Footnote 14]
See MR. JUSTICE BLACK's opinion in
Kingsley
International Pictures Corp. v. Regents, 360 U.
S. 684,
360 U. S. 690
(concurring).
See my opinions in Roth v. United States, 354 U.
S. 476,
354 U. S. 508
(dissenting);
Smith v. California, 361 U.
S. 147,
361 U. S. 167
(concurring);
Ginzburg v. United States, 383 U.
S. 463,
383 U. S. 482
(dissenting).
[
Footnote 15]
See MR. JUSTICE BLACK's separate opinion in
A
Quantity of Books v. Kansas, 378 U. S. 205,
378 U. S.
213.