Kingsley Books, Inc. v. Brown

354 U.S. 436 · Decided June 24, 1957 · Supreme Court of the United States

At a glance

Kingsley Books, Inc. v. Brown was decided on June 24, 1957 by a vote of 5–4. The Court affirmed the lower court's decision. Justice Felix Frankfurter wrote the opinion of the Court. SCDB classifies its main issue as “Obscenity, state” in the First Amendment area.

Read the opinion

• CourtListener (Free Law Project) — opinion text
• Library of Congress — official U.S. Reports scan

Case details

How the Justices voted

Full case caption

Kingsley Books, Inc., et al. v. Brown, Corporation Counsel

SCDB identifiers: case 1956-126, docket 1956-126-01.

Related decisions

Other cases on “Obscenity, state”

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  346 U.S. 587Decided January 18, 19549–0Per curiam
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Cases on the same legal provision: First Amendment (speech, press, and assembly)

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• First Methodist Church of San Leandro v. Horstmann
  357 U.S. 568Decided June 30, 19587–1Per curiam
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  360 U.S. 622Decided June 29, 19595–4William J. Brennan Jr.

Same Term, same area (First Amendment)

• Butler v. MichiganLaw held unconstitutional
  352 U.S. 380Decided February 25, 19579–0Felix Frankfurter
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  352 U.S. 567Decided March 11, 19575–3Felix Frankfurter
• Watkins v. United States
  354 U.S. 178Decided June 17, 19576–1Earl Warren
• Sweezy v. New Hampshire
  354 U.S. 234Decided June 17, 19576–2Earl Warren
• International Brotherhood of Teamsters v. Vogt, Inc.
  354 U.S. 284Decided June 17, 19575–3Felix Frankfurter
• Yates v. United States
  354 U.S. 298Decided June 17, 19576–1John M. Harlan II

See all

Source: Supreme Court Database, 2026 Release 01 (data file dated September 8, 2026). Imported into CaseTrail November 5, 2026. Coverage: decisions from the 1946 through 2025 Terms. Methodology · Report an error