dvd players/vehicles, drive-ins, Internet and Janet

[Coyle, Dennis]

Hmm, that's a constitutional issue I hadn't considered.  I'll have to be more attentive to what is emanating from other vehicles on the highway. Personally, having a car cassette deck still seems like a novelty ....

But more seriously, I would expect the Supreme Court to lower the level of scrutiny, say a few words about being on the periphery of the First Amendment and the secondary effects of such a display, and uphold most restrictions, especially after Barnes and Erie, and even back to Pacifica. It's a good question as to whether Erzoznick is still good law.  I think the current court would likely have decided it differently, and would be inclined to distinguish it into oblivion if presented with similar facts.  On these issues I usually ask WWOCD, and I would guess she'd find a reason to uphold restrictions.

Erzoznick reminds me that back in my Berkeley days I was surprised to see while driving along 101 an x-rated drive-in in the otherwise beautiful hills of Marin County.  Does anyone know if it is still there, and whether it faced legal challenge?  The decline of drive-ins and the rise of VCRs and DVD players may make Erzoznick practically moot.

The surprising exception to the Court's general conservativism on indecency may be its reluctance to uphold internet and particularly library restrictions.

And speaking of indecency, would anyone expect the Court to have a constitutional problem with the more stringent FCC penalties following Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction?

Dennis Coyle
Catholic University of America 

-----Original Message-----
From: conlawprof-bounces at lists.ucla.edu
[mailto:conlawprof-bounces at lists.ucla.edu]On Behalf Of Douglas Laycock
Sent: Wednesday, May 05, 2004 3:26 PM
To: David Mann; conlawprof at lists.ucla.edu
Subject: Re: dvd players/vehicles


         What they ought to ban is any DVD player in the front seat.

         Erzoznick (sp?) v. Jacksonville holds that the government could 
not ban nudity at drive in theaters to protect drivers passing by.  That 
would have been a lot more visible than a DVD screen in the next car at the 
red light.  But whether the current Court would adhere to Erzoznick 
requires more political guess than legal analysis.

At 03:14 PM 5/5/2004 -0400, David Mann wrote:
>I may have missed an earlier discussion about this, but a local member of 
>the fifth estate has asked me this:
>
>Because vehicles are more often coming equipped with DVD players, (she 
>claims) several states are considering banning people from playing X-rated 
>movies while driving, saying the inside of a vehicle is not private, but 
>rather, public space.
>
>Anyone care to bail me out?
>
>dsm
>--
>David S. Mann
>Professor of Political Science
>College of Charleston
>Charleston, SC  29424
>phone:  843-953-5703
>fax:  843-953-8140
>e-mail:  mannd at cofc.edu
>Political Science web page:  http://www.cofc.edu/~mannd/
>Pre-Law Advising web page:  http://www.cofc.edu/pre-law/
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Douglas Laycock
University of Texas Law School
727 E. Dean Keeton St.
Austin, TX  78705
         512-232-1341 (voice)
         512-471-6988 (fax)
         dlaycock at mail.law.utexas.edu

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