Rabeck v. New York

Supreme Court

Rabeck v. New York

391 U.S. 462, 88 S. Ct. 1716, 20 L. Ed. 2d 741, 1968 U.S. LEXIS 1555

CourtSupreme Court of the United States

DecidedJune 3, 1968

Docket796

StatusPublished

Cited by23 cases

This text of 391 U.S. 462 (Rabeck v. New York) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of the United States primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook

Rabeck v. New York, 391 U.S. 462, 88 S. Ct. 1716, 20 L. Ed. 2d 741, 1968 U.S. LEXIS 1555 (1968).

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Opinions

Per Curiam.

Appellant, in seeking reversal of his conviction for selling “girlie” magazines to a minor under 18 years of age in violation of former § 484-i, New York Penal Law,

* argues among other grounds that the statute is impermissibly vague. We agree. While we rejected a like claim as to § 484 — h in Ginsberg v. New York, 390 U. S. 629, § 484-i in part prohibited the sale of “any . . . magazines . . . which would appeal to the lust of persons under the age of eighteen years or to their curiosity as to sex or to the anatomical differences between the sexes . . . .” That standard in our view is unconstitutionally vague. “Nor is it an answer to an argument that a particular regulation of expression is vague to say that it was adopted for the salutary purpose of protecting children. The permissible extent of vagueness is [463]*463not directly proportional to, or a function of, the extent of the power to regulate or control expression with respect to children.” Interstate Circuit, Inc. v. City of Dallas, 390 U. S. 676, 689.

Reversed.

Section 484-i was repealed by N. Y. Laws 1967, c. 791. See Ginsberg v. New York, 390 U. S. 629, 631-632, n. 1.

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Per Curiam.

Appellant, in seeking reversal of his conviction for selling “girlie” magazines to a minor under 18 years of age in violation of former § 484-i, New York Penal Law,

* argues among other grounds that the statute is impermissibly vague. We agree. While we rejected a like claim as to § 484 — h in Ginsberg v. New York, 390 U. S. 629, § 484-i in part prohibited the sale of “any . . . magazines . . . which would appeal to the lust of persons under the age of eighteen years or to their curiosity as to sex or to the anatomical differences between the sexes . . . .” That standard in our view is unconstitutionally vague. “Nor is it an answer to an argument that a particular regulation of expression is vague to say that it was adopted for the salutary purpose of protecting children. The permissible extent of vagueness is [463]*463not directly proportional to, or a function of, the extent of the power to regulate or control expression with respect to children.” Interstate Circuit, Inc. v. City of Dallas, 390 U. S. 676, 689.

Reversed.

Section 484-i was repealed by N. Y. Laws 1967, c. 791. See Ginsberg v. New York, 390 U. S. 629, 631-632, n. 1.

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Bluebook (online)

391 U.S. 462, 88 S. Ct. 1716, 20 L. Ed. 2d 741, 1968 U.S. LEXIS 1555, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rabeck-v-new-york-scotus-1968.

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