''State v. Henry'' was a 1987 decision of the

Oregon Supreme Court The Oregon Supreme Court (OSC) is the highest state court in the U.S. state of Oregon. The only court that may reverse or modify a decision of the Oregon Supreme Court is the Supreme Court of the United States.obscenity An obscenity is any utterance or act that strongly offends the prevalent morality of the time. It is derived from the Latin ''obscēnus'', ''obscaenus'', "boding ill; disgusting; indecent", of uncertain etymology. Such loaded language can be us ...

was unconstitutional because it violated the free speech provision of the

Oregon Constitution The Oregon Constitution is the governing document of the U.S. state of Oregon, originally enacted in 1857. As amended the current state constitution contains eighteen sections, beginning with a bill of rights.

. The ruling made Oregon the first (and only state as of 2022) to abolish the offense of

obscenity An obscenity is any utterance or act that strongly offends the prevalent morality of the time. It is derived from the Latin ''obscēnus'', ''obscaenus'', "boding ill; disgusting; indecent", of uncertain etymology. Such loaded language can be us ...

in its state law, although obscenity remains a federal offense.

Background

The case came about when the owner of an adult bookstore, Earl Henry, was charged and convicted of obscenity (specifically for possessing and distributing obscene materials) after police raided his store. He was fined $2,000 and sentenced to 60 days in jail but was allowed to remain free pending an appeal. The

ACLU The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". ...

of Oregon filed an appeal to the

Oregon Supreme Court The Oregon Supreme Court (OSC) is the highest state court in the U.S. state of Oregon. The only court that may reverse or modify a decision of the Oregon Supreme Court is the Supreme Court of the United States.First Amendment to the United States Constitution The First Amendment (Amendment I) to the United States Constitution prevents the government from making laws that regulate an establishment of religion, or that prohibit the free exercise of religion, or abridge the freedom of speech, the ...

and that "state courts should interpret and develop state law under their state constitutions without regard to the swings in interpretation at the national level", especially when state constitutions provide greater protections than the federal one.

Ruling

In a unanimous (7-0) ruling on January 21, 1987, the Oregon Supreme Court agreed that "the text of the state constitution was "broader" than the text of the First Amendment and dismissed the charges against Earl Henry. The court's ruling declared that the state's obscenity statute was unconstitutional with the majority opinion noting that: The court further explained that "no criminal law could outlaw a certain category of speech unless that speech represented a "historically established exception" to the general guarantee of freedom of expression afforded by the state constitution", noting that "The very fact that 'obscenity' originally was pursued and repressed for its 'anti-establishment' irreverence rather than for its bawdiness elsewhere and only to protect the morals of youth in this state leads us to conclude that no broad or all-encompassing historical exception from the guarantees of free expression was ever intended."

Aftermath

Oregon Ballot Measure 19 (1994) and Oregon Ballot Measure 31 (1995) attempted to amend the free speech provision of the

so that it no longer protected obscenity but both measures failed and no other changes have been proposed since.

References

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Background

Ruling

Aftermath

References

Further reading