[Volokh] Eugene Volokh: Movie Day at the Supreme Court:

[notify at powerblogs.com]

Posted by Eugene Volokh:
Movie Day at the Supreme Court:
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2009_01_04-2009_01_10.shtml#1231366294


   I was reminded recently of this remarkable story, from [1]Woodward &
   Bernstein's excellent The Brethren. During the late 1960s and early
   1970s, the Court's obscenity doctrine essentially called for
   case-by-case Supreme Court decisionmaking about whether various films
   were obscene. Those Justices who took this view therefore watched the
   movies, together with the clerks. Here's one item that stuck in my
   head:

     During his later years, Harlan [who was by then nearly blind -EV]
     watched the films from the first row, a few feet from the screen,
     able only to make out the general outlines. His clerk or another
     Justice would describe the action. "By Jove," Harlan would exclaim.
     "Extraordinary."

References

   1. http://books.google.com/books?id=6JtJ23GmD3AC&pg=PA239&lpg=PA239&dq=%22movie+day+was+the+humorous+highpoint%22&source=bl&ots=0GoI5OPbA7&sig=3bZQCWMt7up4dUR9Qh5OGv-FJ6U&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result