Tralins v. Gerstein
378 U.S. 576 · Decided June 22, 1964 · Supreme Court of the United States
Record summary. This page is generated from the Supreme Court Database’s coded data about the case. It describes who decided what, not the Court’s reasoning. Read the opinion itself before relying on it. Not legal advice.
At a glance
Tralins v. Gerstein was decided on June 22, 1964 by a vote of 5–4. The Court reversed the lower court's decision. The decision was issued per curiam (an unsigned opinion of the Court). SCDB classifies its main issue as “Obscenity, state” in the First Amendment area.
Read the opinion
Case details
- Citations
- 378 U.S. 576 · 84 S. Ct. 1903 · 12 L. Ed. 2d 1033 · 1964 U.S. LEXIS 863
- Docket number
- 246
- Decided
- June 22, 1964
- Court era
- Warren Court
- Decision type
- Per curiam (no oral argument)
- Disposition
- Reversed
- Outcome for petitioner
- The petitioning party received a favorable disposition
- Vote
- 5–4
- Opinion assigned by
- Hugo L. Black
- How the case arrived
- Certiorari
- Issue (SCDB)
- Obscenity, state
- Issue area
- First Amendment
- Decision direction (SCDB)
- Liberal what this means
How the Justices voted
| Justice | Vote | Separate writing |
|---|---|---|
| Justice Hugo L. Black | Special concurrence | Co-authored an opinion |
| Justice William O. Douglas | Special concurrence | Co-authored an opinion |
| Justice Tom C. Clark | Jurisdictional dissent | |
| Chief Justice Earl Warren | Jurisdictional dissent | |
| Justice John M. Harlan II | Jurisdictional dissent | |
| Justice William J. Brennan Jr. | Special concurrence | Co-authored an opinion |
| Justice Potter Stewart | Special concurrence | Wrote an opinion |
| Justice Byron R. White | Jurisdictional dissent | |
| Justice Arthur J. Goldberg | Special concurrence | Co-authored an opinion |
Full case caption
Tralins v. Gerstein, State Attorney
SCDB identifiers: case 1963-175, docket 1963-175-01.
Related decisions
Other cases on “Obscenity, state”
- Jacobellis v. Ohio
- A Quantity of Copies of Books v. KansasLaw held unconstitutional
- Grove Press, Inc. v. Gerstein
- Bantam Books, Inc. v. Sullivan
- A Book Named 'john Cleland's Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure' v. Attorney General of Massachusetts
- Mishkin v. New York
Same Term, same area (First Amendment)
- Fields v. City of Fairfield.
- Greene v. United States
- Kreznar v. United States.
- New York Times Co. v. SullivanLaw held unconstitutional
- Rabinowitz v. Kennedy
- Henry v. City of Rock Hill
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