New York v. Ferber, , was a United States Supreme Court

Supreme Court of the United States

The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...

 decision. The Court ruled unanimously that the First Amendment

First Amendment to the United States Constitution

The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering...

 right to free speech did not forbid states from banning the sale of material depicting children engaged in sexual activity.

Background of the case

Paul Ferber and Tim Quinn owned an adult bookstore in Manhattan. Ferber came to the attention of the police when he sold to an undercover police officer two films depicting boys masturbating. He was charged with violating a New York law that forbade the sale of any performance depicting sexual conduct of children under the age of 16. At trial he was convicted, and the conviction was affirmed by the intermediate appellate court. The New York Court of Appeals found that the First Amendment protected Ferber's conduct, and reversed the conviction. The State of New York asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case.

Court's opinion

For a long time before the decision, the Court had ruled that the First Amendment allowed the regulation of obscenity. Under the Court's previous decision in Miller v. California

Miller v. California

Miller v. California, was an important United States Supreme Court case involving what constitutes unprotected obscenity for First Amendment purposes...

, , material is "obscene" if, taken as a whole and applying contemporary community standards, it lacks serious scientific, literary, artistic, or political value, is "patently offensive" and aimed at "prurient interests". The court in Ferber found that child pornography, however, may be banned without first being deemed obscene under Miller for five reasons:

1. The government has a very compelling interest in preventing the sexual exploitation of children.
2. Distribution of visual depictions of children engaged in sexual activity is intrinsically related to the sexual abuse of children. The images serve as a permanent reminder of the abuse, and it is necessary for government to regulate the channels of distributing such images if it is to be able to eliminate the production of child pornography.
3. Advertising and selling child pornography provides an economic motive for producing child pornography.
4. Visual depictions of children engaged in sexual activity have negligible artistic value.
5. Thus, holding that child pornography is outside the protection of the First Amendment is consistent with the Court's prior decisions limiting the banning of materials deemed "obscene" as the Court had previously defined it. For this reason, child pornography need not be legally obscene before being outlawed.

See also

• List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 458
• Stanley v. Georgia
  Stanley v. Georgia
  Stanley v. Georgia, , was a United States Supreme Court decision that helped to establish an implied "right to privacy" in U.S. law.The Georgia home of Robert Eli Stanley, a suspected and previously convicted bookmaker, was searched by police with a federal warrant to seize betting paraphernalia...
  
  ,
• Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition
  Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition
  Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition, , struck down two overbroad provisions of the Child Pornography Prevention Act of 1996 because they abridged "the freedom to engage in a substantial amount of lawful speech." The case was brought against the Government by the Free Speech Coalition, a "California...
  
  , , distinguishing virtual child pornography, as its creation does not abuse real children.