With financial backing from Hamling, Redrup appealed his case to the Supreme Court where his conviction was overturned by 7–2. The court's final ruling affirmed that written materials that were neither sold to minors nor foisted on unwilling audiences were constitutionally protected, thereby de facto ending American censorship of written material. After this decision, the Supreme Court systematically and summarily reversed, without further opinion, scores of obscenity rulings involving paperback sex books.
"Redrupping"
The Court's decision came at a time when the Justices were unable to agree upon a single, workable test regarding what would constitute obscenity. For example, Justice Stewart's belief that hard-core pornography should be covered by obscenity law, even if he was unable to state a clear definition for what exactly constituted "hard-core" material, was summed up with his notorious expression: "I know it when I see it."
Accordingly, the Court adopted a process by which each justice would review the material in question and determine, according to their own understanding, whether or not it constituted obscenity.
U.S. Supreme Court Building to watch the films being challenged by obscenity cases.[3] This process was referred to in lawyer's slang as "redrupping."[4]
Justices
Harlan, whose eyesight was deteriorating in old age, would sit closest to the screen in order to see the outlines of what was happening on-screen, and often required clerks or fellow Justices to describe the action.[7]
The "redrupping" era came to an end with the 1973 decision Miller v. California, which laid down the three-prong standard known as the Miller test for obscenity.
^Woodward, Bob; Armstrong, Scott (1979). The Bretheren. Simon & Schuster. p. 198. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
^"Books for Lawyers". ABA Journal: 492. April 1983. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
^Woodward, Bob; Armstrong, Scott (1979). The Bretheren. Simon & Schuster. p. 198. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
^Woodward, Bob; Armstrong, Scott (1979). The Bretheren. Simon & Schuster. p. 198. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
^Woodward, Bob; Armstrong, Scott (1979). The Bretheren. Simon & Schuster. p. 198. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
Further reading
Hagle, Timothy M. (1991). "But Do They Have to See It to Know It? The Supreme Court's Obscenity and Pornography Decisions". The Western Political Quarterly. 44 (4). University of Utah: 1039–1054.
Kobylka, Joseph F. (1987). "A Court-Created Context for Group Litigation: Libertarian Groups and Obscenity". The Journal of Politics. 49 (4). Cambridge University Press: 1061–1078.
Works related to Redrup v. New York at Wikisource
