Vance Et Al. v. Universal Amusement Co‪.‬

The question presented in this unusual obscenity case is whether the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit correctly held a Texas public nuisance statute unconstitutional. The Court of Appeals read the Texas statute as authorizing a prior restraint of indefinite duration on the exhibition of motion pictures without a final judicial determination of obscenity and without any guarantee of prompt review of a preliminary finding of probable obscenity. Cf. Freedman v. Maryland, 380 U.S. 51 (1965); Southeastern Promotions, Ltd. v. Conrad, 420 U.S. 546 (1975). In this Court, appellants argue that such a restraint is no more serious than that imposed by Texas criminal statutes and that it is therefore constitutional. We find appellants argument unpersuasive and affirm the judgment of the Court of Appeals.