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(Myth v Fact) It is not a violation of the 1st Amendment if the speech is obscene

“First Amendment freedoms are most in danger when the government seeks to control thought or to justify its laws for that impermissible end. The right to think is the beginning of freedom, and speech must be protected from the government because speech is the beginning of thought.”—Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy


Yes, there are limits on freedom of speech, and yes obscenity is one of those limits. Some commenters on our posts have said local government officials did not violate the 1st Amendment in the case of removing books from the library because the books were obscene.

Restricting speech because someone might consider it obscene has limits too. From the Legal Information Institute:


Currently, obscenity is evaluated by federal and state courts alike using a tripartite standard established by Miller v. California. The Miller test for obscenity includes the following criteria:


  • Whether ‘the average person, applying contemporary community standards’ would find that the work, ‘taken as a whole,’ appeals to ‘prurient interest’

  • Whether the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by the applicable state law, and

  • Whether the work, ‘taken as a whole,’ lacks serious iterary, artistic, political, or scientific value.


Current efforts underway in Campbell County are stating that some books should be removed from the library completely or removed from a section of the library completely because they are obscene. Some of this is based on sexual acts in the books, and some of it is based on the lifestyles portrayed in the books.


Our position on the matter is that small government is the best government, rather than trying to dictate to the community what is and is not appropriate or acceptable, we believe our local government officials would do well to spend their time on more pressing matters and issues.


There is a scourge affecting the young people of Campbell County, specifically mental health and substance use disorders. We have unacceptable rates of child and teen suicide. Approximately 15% of children live in poverty in Campbell County according to the Community Needs Assessment. Trying to score political points by violating the Constitution will not solve any of these very real and very serious issues affecting our children in Campbell County.



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