The Constitution was created to protect our civil liberties as a people. Our civil liberties and safety at times come hand in hand. It violates the constitution if people's rights are violated in the pursuit of "freedom". Obscenity is not legally protected by the first amendment, there are those that think it should be according to the "freedom of expression" clause in the constitution- but it is not. After numerous conflicted issues the Supreme Court finally came up with a test in Miller vs. California, in 1973. "It decided that a book, film or piece of material is legally obscene if 1) The average person applying present day standards finds that the work taken as a whole appeals to prurient interest- that is, tends to excite unwholesome sexual desire. 2) The work depicts or describes in an obviously offensive way, a form of sexual conduct specifically prohibited by an anti obscenity law. 3) The work taken as a whole lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value." Offensive speech can be controversial, so the clause "present day standards" was put in, to judge more accurately how obscene the situation potentially is. Local communities are allowed, by the Supreme Court to set their own morality views or obscenity laws for their community. .
Among the obscenity category, are listed: "fighting words", Libel and Slander. Each in their own can be viewed as obscene, and depending on the surrounding area the level of indecency is different. Slander is the public utterance or speech that holds a person up for contempt, ridicule or hatred. Libel is a published false hood's that can injure a person's reputation or give question for their character. All can fall in the category of "obscene", just the degree to which it falls is in question. Obscene articles can have the affect of ruining a persons reputation, which is an infringe on their rights as free citizens of this country.
