RABECK
v.
NEW YORK

U.S. | 1968-05-27
No. 611
391 U.S. 462 Supreme Court of the United States (1968) Caution
Also reported at: 20 L. Ed. 2d 741 · 88 S. Ct. 1716 · 1968 U.S. LEXIS 1555 · SCDB 1967-142
Cited by 10 cases
Per_curiam
Per Curiam.

Per Curiam.

Appellant, in seeking reversal of his conviction for selling “girlie” magazines to a minor under 18 years of age in violation of former § 484-i, New York Penal Law,* argues among other grounds that the statute is impermissibly vague. We agree. While we rejected a like claim as to § 484 — h in Ginsberg v. New York, 390 U. S. 629, § 484-i in part prohibited the sale of “any . . . magazines . . . which would appeal to the lust of persons under the age of eighteen years or to their curiosity as to sex or to the anatomical differences between the sexes . . . .” That standard in our view is unconstitutionally vague. “Nor is it an answer to an argument that a particular regulation of expression is vague to say that it was adopted for the salutary purpose of protecting children. The permissible extent of vagueness is not directly proportional to, or a function of, the extent of the power to regulate or control expression with respect to children.” Interstate Circuit, Inc. v. City of Dallas, 390 U. S. 676, 689.

Reversed.

*

Section 484-i was repealed by N. Y. Laws 1967, c. 791. See Ginsberg v. New York, 390 U. S. 629, 631-632, n. 1.

Concurrence
Mr. Justice Douglas,

Mr. Justice Douglas,

with whom Mr. Justice Black concurs, would reverse for the reasons stated in his dissenting opinion in Ginsberg y. New York, 390 U. S. 629, 650.

Mr. Justice Harlan would affirm the judgment of the state court on the premises stated in his separate opinion in Interstate Circuit, Inc. v. City of Dallas, 390 U. S. 676, 704. In addition, he considers it a particularly fruitless judicial act to strike down on the score of vagueness a state statute which has already been repealed.

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  • Erznoznik v. City of Jacksonville, 422 U.S. 205 (U.S. 1975)
    …U. S. 503 (1969), and only in relatively narrow and well-defined circumstances may government bar public dissemination of protected materials to them. See, e. g., Interstate Circuit, Inc. v. City of Dallas, 390 U. S. 676, 1968); Rabeck v. New York, 391 U. S. 462 (1968). In this case, assuming the ordinance is aimed at prohibiting youths from viewing the films, the restriction is broader than permissible. The ordinance is not directed against sexually explicit nudity, nor is it otherwise limited. Rather, it…
  • M.S. News Co. a Kan. Corp. v. Casado, 721 F.2d 1281 (10th Cir. 1983)
    …to protect minors from sexually oriented matters has been found to be unconstitutionally vague, the standard for evaluating whether the material was obscene as to minors has generally been the source of the vagueness. See, e.g., Rabeck v. New York, 391 U.S. 462, 88 S.Ct. 1716, 20 L.Ed.2d 741 (1968) (per curiam); Interstate Circuit, Inc. v. Dallas, 390 U.S. 676, 88 S.Ct. 1298, 20 L.Ed.2d 225 (1968); American Booksellers Ass’n v. McAuliffe, 533 F.Supp. 50 (N.D.Ga.1981); Hillsboro News Co. v. City of Tampa, 4…
  • United States v. Hymans, 463 F.2d 615 (10th Cir. 1972)
    …ious person ordinance”; Coates v. Cincinnati, 402 U.S. 611, 91 S.Ct. 1686, 29 L.Ed.2d 214 (1971), which concerns an ordinance making it a criminal offense for two or more persons to assemble on a sidewalk and annoy passersby; and Rabeck v. New York, 391 U.S. 462, 88 S.Ct. 1716, 20 L.Ed.2d 741 (1968), relating to a statute prohibiting the sale of magazines which would appeal to the lust of persons under eighteen or to their curiosity as to sex or to the anatomical differences between the sexes, are inapposit…

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