Stanley v. Georgia/Concurrence Black

by Hugo Black

Mr. Justice BLACK, concurring.

I agree with the Court that the mere possession of reading matter or movie films, whether labeled obscene or not, cannot be made a crime by a State without violating the First Amendment, made applicable to the States by the Fourteenth. My reasons for this belief have been set out in many of my prior opinions, as for example, Smith v. California, 361 U.S. 147, 155, 80 S.Ct. 215, 219, 4 L.Ed.2d 205 (concurring opinion), and Ginzburg v. United States, 383 U.S. 463, 476, 86 S.Ct. 942, 950, 16 L.Ed.2d 31 (dissenting opinion).