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The Miller test, also called the three-prong obscenity test, is the United States Supreme Court's test for determining whether speech or expression can be labeled obscene, in which case it is not protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and can be prohibited.
Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15 (1973), was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court clarifying the legal definition of obscenity as material that lacks "serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value". [1]
The Supreme Court has ruled that obscenity is not protected by the First Amendment, but the courts must determine in each case whether the material in question is obscene. Erotic art (including "classic nude forms" such as Michelangelo's David statue) and less respected commercial pornography are generally not considered obscene.
The expression became one of the best-known phrases in the history of the Supreme Court. [4] Though "I know it when I see it" is widely cited as Stewart's test for "obscenity", he did not use the word "obscenity" himself in his short concurrence, but stated that he knew what fit the "shorthand description" of "hard-core pornography" when he saw it.
In all these cases, including in the most recent case in which the Supreme Court reaffirmed the completely court-manufactured obscenity exception—it's an old decision that goes back to 1973, but ...
Heller v. New York, 413 U.S. 483 (1973), was a United States Supreme Court decision which upheld that states could make laws limiting the distribution of obscene material, provided that these laws were consistent with the Miller test for obscene material established by the Supreme Court in Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15 (1973). [1]
Writing for the Court, Justice Thurgood Marshall drew a distinction between that ban and other obscenity laws: "Whatever may be the justifications for other statutes regulating obscenity, we do ...
California (1973) – the currently-binding Supreme Court precedent on the issue –, the Court ruled materials were obscene if they appealed "to a prurient interest", showed "patently offensive sexual conduct" that was specifically defined by a state obscenity law, and "lacked serious artistic, literary, political, or scientific value ...