William O. Douglas

“ If a publication caters to the idiosyncrasies of a minority, why does it not have some 'social importance'? Each of us is a very temporary transient with likes and dislikes that cover the spectrum. However plebian my testes may be, who am I to say that others' tastes must be so limited and that other tastes have no 'social importance'? How can we know enough to probe the mysteries of the subconscious of our people and say that this is good for them and that is not? ”

“ If we were wise enough, we might know that communication may have greater thereapeutical value than any sermon that those of the 'normal' community can ever offer. But if the communication is of value to the masochistic community or to others of the deviant community, how can it be said to be 'utterly without redeeming social importance'? ”

“ Are they to be barred from communicating in symbolisms important to them? When the Court today speaks of 'social value,' does it mean a 'value' to the majority? Why is not a minority 'value' cognizable? The masochistic group is one; the deviant group is another. ”

“ The theory is that people are mature enough to pick and choose, to recognize trash when they see it, to be attracted to the literature that satisfies their deepest need, and, hopefully, to move from plateau to plateau and finally reach the world of enduring ideas. ”

“ Some of the tracts for which these publishers go to prison concern normal sex, some homosexuality, some the masochistic yearning that is probably present in everyone and dominant in some. Masochism is a desire to be punished or subdued. In the broad frame of reference the desire may be expressed in the longing to be whipped and lashed, bound and gagged, and cruelly treated. [8] Why is it unlawful to cater to the needs of this group? They are, to be sure, somewhat offbeat, nonconformist, and odd. But we are not in the realm of criminal conduct, only ideas and tastes. ”

“ We have no business acting as censors or endowing any group with censorship powers. It is shocking to me for us to send to prison anyone for publishing anything, especially tracts so distant from any incitement to action as the ones before us. ”

“ Government does not sit to reveal where the 'truth' is. People are left to pick and choose between competing offerings. There is no compulsion to take and read what is repulsive any more than there is to spend one's time poring over government bulletins, political tracts, or theological treatises. ”

“ Catering to the most eccentric taste may have 'social importance' in giving that minority an opportunity to express itself rather than to repress its inner desires, as I suggest in my separate opinion in A Book Named 'John Cleland's Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure' v. ”

“ Judges can and should take judicial notice that, at many gatherings of lawyers at Bar Association or of alumni of our leading law schools, tales are told fully as 'obscene' as many of those distributed by men * * * convicted for violation of the obscenity statute. ”

“ Olesen, 355 U.S. 371, 78 S.Ct. 364, 2 L.Ed.2d 352, where we unanimously reversed the decision of the Court of Appeals in 9 Cir., 241 F.2d 772 without opinion. Our holding was accurately described by Lockhart and McClure, Obscenity Censorship: The Core Constitutional Issue-What is Obscene? 7 Utah L.Rev. 289, 293 (1961) :
' (This) was a magazine for homosexuals entitled One-The Homosexual Magazine, which was definitely not a scientific or critical magazine, but appears to have been written to appeal to the tastes and interests of homosexuals.' [9]
Man was not made in a fixed mould. ”