Miller Test Born: Supreme Court Defines Obscenity
Five justices agreed on a definition of obscenity — and they still couldn't quite explain it. Chief Justice Warren Burger wrote Miller v. California to replace Justice Potter Stewart's infamous non-definition: "I know it when I see it." The new three-part Miller Test asked whether average people found the work offensive, whether it lacked serious artistic value, and who exactly counts as an "average person" anyway. That last question haunted courts for decades. But here's the twist: the test was meant to restrict obscenity. Instead, it accidentally drew the map for what was legally protected.
June 21, 1973
53 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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