The Supreme Court upheld statutes making mere possession of child pornography a crime.


By a 6-3 vote, the Supreme Court upheld a law that made it illegal to simply possess child pornography. As in New York v. Ferber[case]New York v. Ferber[New York v. Ferber] (1982), the Court found that the importance of protecting children from sexual exploitation was so great as to override any protection for adults’ rights to possess obscene materials. Unlike Ferber, which involved the sale of child pornography, this case involved people’s right to possess obscene materials for their own use in their own home, which presumably had constitutional protection after the Court’s ruling in Stanley v. Georgia[case]Stanley v. Georgia[Stanley v. Georgia] (1969). Justice Byron R. WhiteWhite, Byron R.;Osborne v. Ohio[Osborne v. Ohio] wrote the opinion, and Justice Harry A. Blackmun concurred. Justices William J. Brennan, Jr., Thurgood Marshall, and John Paul Stevens dissented, finding that the statute was overbroad even after the construction had been narrowed.Obscenity and pornography;Osborne v. Ohio[Osborne v. Ohio]



Jacobellis v. Ohio

Memoirs v. Massachusetts

New York v. Ferber

Obscenity and pornography

Roth v. United States and Alberts v. California

Stanley v. Georgia