Mishkin v. New York

Summary

The Court affirmed the convictions under New York's obscenity statute, holding that the statute was not impermissibly vague, that material intended for a specifically defined deviant sexual group may satisfy the prurient-appeal requirement based on that group's sexual interests, and that the evidence established the required scienter. The Court declined to decide the search-and-seizure claim because the record was inadequate and dismissed the writ as improvidently granted on that issue. Justice Harlan concurred in the judgment on different obscenity premises, while Justices Black and Stewart dissented and would have reversed the convictions.