Q Please post your answers to the chapter 13 problem questions here. Problem Questions 1. The state has adopted a variable obscenity ordinance that makes a wide range of material that “appeals to a minor’s prurient interest in sex” inaccessible to persons under the age of 18. It is illegal for a retail record shop, bookstore, magazine store, or other such distributor to permit minors to buy or have any access to such indecent material. It is also impermissible under the law to display for sale in a store window any work unacceptable for minors. Gail’s Books is a large bookstore in Riverside. It stocks a wide range of both fiction and nonfiction works suitable for readers of all ages. Shortly after the new state law was adopted, the Committee to Undermine the Sale of Smut (CUSS) complained to the local prosecutor that Gail’s Books was in violation of the law. CUSS members say they inspected the bookstore and found material unacceptable to minors in the art, photography, social science, natural science, mystery, fantasy, general fiction, and humor sections of the bookstore. Gail Storm, the owner of the store, admits that some of the books in all those sections might not be suitable for children, but she simply does not have the room to have “Adults Only” sections for all those categories of books. Minors are prohibited from buying such books, she said, and her sales staff, which works on the floor of the store, watches to see that young people are not reading books that would be covered by the new state ordinance. CUSS insists that the state prosecute Gail, so a criminal complaint is issued against the store, alleging a violation of the state’s new law. Are such variable obscenity laws constitutional? Why or why not? Is this law acceptable under the First Amendment? 2. The city of Winston in 1996 adopted a zoning ordinance regulating the location of adult businesses. The definition of an adult business is one that derives more than 50 percent of its revenues through the sale or rental of adult materials, be they books or magazines or films or videos or sexual paraphernalia. Adult material is defined as matter that includes full frontal nudity, representations of sexual or excretory functions, sexual perversions and other sexual activities, and other similar kinds of matter. The same definition is used by other communities in the state and has been held to be constitutional when challenged in federal court. All enterprises that meet the definition of an adult business must be located within a five square block area in downtown Winston. There are 15 such business in this area now, about the same number that existed before the zoning ordinance went into effect. Donald Quasar has rented a small warehouse in a business park in Winston and uses the space to make adult movies. The films are not obscene. They are shot and edited in the warehouse and then the movies are sent to location in another state where they are copied, transferred to video and distributed to buyers who order the films from an Internet catalog. Quasar has about 14 employees working at the warehouse. Occasionally, when a film is being shot, three or four actors are also at the site. The public is specifically excluded. This is a working film studio, not a retail outlet. The Winston city attorney has filed an order with Quasar declaring that his adult business must be located within the five square block area set aside in Winston for such businesses. If he falls to move the studio will be shut down for falling to be in compliance with the city zoning code. Quasar challenges the order, claiming that the law does not apply to his operation. What is the test a court would use to determine whether a city zoning law is constitutional? T Would the Winston law apply to Quasar’s studio? 3. Citizens and civil leaders alike expressed dismay when Van Nuys Video announced it would be opening a store in little Mill Creek. The town, a quiet suburban refuge from nearby Seattle, prides itself on its reputation of clean living, clean air, clean streets, and clean minds. Van Nuys Video, which calls itself the “supermarket of video stores,” stocks thousands of titles, including a large selection of NC-17 and unrated adult videos. The town council quickly passes a new ordinance prohibiting the sale or rental to any person of any video material that is “grossly indecent or offensive” and that “might be harmful to persons under the age of 18.” Town leaders say that such material is readily available in Seattle and other communities, and there is no need to permit such material in Mill Creek. Two days after the opening of Van Nuys Video, the store manager is arrested for violating the new ordinance for renting a copy of “Midnight Cowboy” to an adult customer. The film, the story of a male prostitute, is the only X-rated movie to win the Academy Award for best picture (1969). Although unchanged, the film was re-rated several years ago to an “R” or restricted status. City officials argued that the content of the motion picture clearly meets the definition in the ordinance of material that is grossly indecent or offensive and could be harmful to adults as well as young people. Attorneys for Van Nuys argue that the town’s ordinance is invalid because it violates the First Amendment. City officials say the First Amendment doesn’t protect movies and point to the MPAA film rating system in effect at theaters as evidence that filmmakers do not have the same constitutional freedoms as authors. 1. Is the city ordinance the test that would be used to determine whether or not such a video can be rented to adults? Or is there another more appropriate test the court will use? If so, name this test. 2. What are the basic provisions of this test? 3. What is the likelihood that the video will be determined to be obscene?