At a recent Cobb School Board meeting several educators stood and left the meeting, apparently miffed at Superintendent Chris Ragsdale's comments pertaining to materials removed from school libraries as being obscene. However, as the superintendent and prominent attorneys have emphasized, the U.S. Supreme Court made it clear that material deemed obscene are not protected free speech.
The case of Miller vs California, 413 U.S. 15 (1973) developed a three-prong test to determine if materials are obscene and not subject to free-speech protections: 1. Prurient interest. Does the average person, using community standards find that the work appeals to a shameful or morbid interest in sex? 2. Patently offensive. Does the work show sexual content in a way that is clearly offensive and defined by state law? 3. Lacks value. Does the work lack serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value?
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