Pornography used to make its way to the Supreme Court regularly.
In a 1964 case, Justice Potter Stewart had one of the most colorful lines ever in a Supreme Court opinion, despite or perhaps because his line was not particularly scholarly. It was a case where the Court struggled to define “hard-core” pornography that was not protected by the First Amendment versus soft core stuff that was.
The Justices were reluctant to admit to any expertise in the subject. Stewart, however, declared in his concurring opinion “I know it when I see it.”
In that particular case, Stewart didn’t see it; he said the movie at issue was not pornographic. He later expressed regret for “I know [pornography] when I see it” being his most famous line. But he could have done worse in the annals of history. Justice Roger Taney is remembered for stupidly saying in the 1857 Dred Scott decision that Blacks were “altogether unfit to associate with the white race.”
Which brings us to Justice Ketanji Onyika Brown Jackson, the Court’s newest member who is an accomplished woman that happens to be Black. (These days you’re supposed to notice and applaud that, unless they’re politically conservative, and she’s not.)
the Aspen beat 