Which case ruled that obscenity is not protected by the First Amendment and set early standards for obscenity definitions?

• A. NAACP v. Alabama
• B. Engel v. Vitale
• C. Roth v. US
• D. Griswold v. Connecticut

Answer: (C)

Obscenity is not protected by the First Amendment, and Roth v. United States established the early standard for judging what counts as obscenity. In this 1957 decision, the Court held that materials deemed obscene could be regulated, separate from protected speech. It set up a three-part test: first, would the average person, applying contemporary community standards, find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to prurient interest; second, does the work depict or describe sexual conduct in a patently offensive way; and third, does the work, taken as a whole, lack serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value. This framework gave courts a workable method to evaluate obscenity before later refinements like the Miller test.

The other cases address different constitutional issues. NAACP v. Alabama centers on rights of association, Engel v. Vitale deals with school-sponsored prayer and the Establishment Clause, and Griswold v. Connecticut concerns privacy and contraception. None of these establish standards for obscenity.