Jacobellis v. Ohio
E550591
Jacobellis v. Ohio is a 1964 U.S. Supreme Court decision that refined the constitutional standards for obscenity under the First Amendment, famously associated with Justice Potter Stewart’s “I know it when I see it” concurrence.
All labels observed (2)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Jacobellis v. Ohio canonical | 3 |
| Jacobellis v. State of Ohio | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T5851280 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Jacobellis v. Ohio Context triple: [Roth v. United States, subsequentCase, Jacobellis v. Ohio]
-
A.
Brandenburg v. Ohio
Brandenburg v. Ohio is a 1969 U.S. Supreme Court decision that significantly strengthened free speech protections by establishing the "imminent lawless action" test for when advocacy of violence can be punished under the First Amendment.
-
B.
Eisenstadt v. Baird
Eisenstadt v. Baird is a landmark 1972 U.S. Supreme Court decision that extended the right to possess and use contraceptives to unmarried individuals, significantly advancing privacy and equal protection jurisprudence.
-
C.
Terry v. Ohio
Terry v. Ohio is a 1968 U.S. Supreme Court decision that established the legality of police "stop and frisk" searches based on reasonable suspicion rather than probable cause.
-
D.
Prigg v. Pennsylvania
Prigg v. Pennsylvania was an 1842 U.S. Supreme Court case that upheld federal supremacy over state laws in enforcing the return of escaped enslaved people, significantly strengthening the legal force of the Fugitive Slave Clause.
-
E.
De Jonge v. Oregon
De Jonge v. Oregon is a 1937 U.S. Supreme Court case that held the right to peaceful assembly is a fundamental liberty protected by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and thus applies to the states.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Jacobellis v. Ohio Target entity description: Jacobellis v. Ohio is a 1964 U.S. Supreme Court decision that refined the constitutional standards for obscenity under the First Amendment, famously associated with Justice Potter Stewart’s “I know it when I see it” concurrence.
-
A.
Brandenburg v. Ohio
Brandenburg v. Ohio is a 1969 U.S. Supreme Court decision that significantly strengthened free speech protections by establishing the "imminent lawless action" test for when advocacy of violence can be punished under the First Amendment.
-
B.
Eisenstadt v. Baird
Eisenstadt v. Baird is a landmark 1972 U.S. Supreme Court decision that extended the right to possess and use contraceptives to unmarried individuals, significantly advancing privacy and equal protection jurisprudence.
-
C.
Terry v. Ohio
Terry v. Ohio is a 1968 U.S. Supreme Court decision that established the legality of police "stop and frisk" searches based on reasonable suspicion rather than probable cause.
-
D.
Prigg v. Pennsylvania
Prigg v. Pennsylvania was an 1842 U.S. Supreme Court case that upheld federal supremacy over state laws in enforcing the return of escaped enslaved people, significantly strengthening the legal force of the Fugitive Slave Clause.
-
E.
De Jonge v. Oregon
De Jonge v. Oregon is a 1937 U.S. Supreme Court case that held the right to peaceful assembly is a fundamental liberty protected by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and thus applies to the states.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (49)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
United States Supreme Court case
ⓘ
landmark decision ⓘ obscenity case ⓘ |
| areaOfLaw |
constitutional law
ⓘ
criminal law ⓘ freedom of expression ⓘ |
| arguedDate | 1963-03-26 ⓘ |
| chiefJusticeAtTime | Earl Warren ⓘ |
| citation |
12 L. Ed. 2d 793
ⓘ
378 U.S. 184 ⓘ 84 S. Ct. 1676 ⓘ |
| concurrenceBy |
Arthur J. Goldberg
ⓘ
Potter Stewart ⓘ William O. Douglas ⓘ |
| court | Supreme Court of the United States ⓘ |
| decisionDate | 1964-06-22 ⓘ |
| dissentBy |
Byron R. White
ⓘ
Hugo L. Black ⓘ John M. Harlan II ⓘ Tom C. Clark ⓘ |
| famousFor | Justice Potter Stewart’s phrase "I know it when I see it" describing hard-core pornography ⓘ |
| fullCaseName |
Jacobellis v. State of Ohio
ⓘ
linked to:
Jacobellis v. Ohio
|
| holding |
the First and Fourteenth Amendments limit the power of states to ban films as obscene
ⓘ
the film at issue was not obscene under the First Amendment ⓘ |
| issue | whether a state could constitutionally convict a theater manager for exhibiting an allegedly obscene film ⓘ |
| joinedByInMajority |
Arthur J. Goldberg
ⓘ
Earl Warren ⓘ William O. Douglas ⓘ |
| jurisdiction |
United States
ⓘ
linked to:
United States of America
|
| legalRule |
obscenity must be judged by national, not local, community standards
ⓘ
only material that is utterly without redeeming social value can be obscene ⓘ |
| lowerCourtDisposition | conviction of theater manager for exhibiting allegedly obscene film affirmed ⓘ |
| majorityOpinionBy | William J. Brennan Jr. ⓘ |
| originatingCourt | Supreme Court of Ohio ⓘ |
| petitioner | Nico Jacobellis ⓘ |
| precedentFor | later obscenity cases interpreting the First Amendment ⓘ |
| rearguedDate | 1963-10-21 ⓘ |
| relatedAmendment |
First Amendment to the United States Constitution
ⓘ
Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution ⓘ
linked to:
Fourteenth Amendment
|
| relatedTo |
Memoirs v. Massachusetts
ⓘ
Miller v. California ⓘ Roth v. United States ⓘ |
| relatedWork |
film "Les Amants" ("The Lovers") directed by Louis Malle
ⓘ
linked to:
Les Amants
|
| respondent |
State of Ohio
ⓘ
linked to:
Ohio
|
| subjectMatter |
constitutional standards for obscenity
ⓘ
film censorship ⓘ freedom of speech ⓘ |
| supremeCourtDisposition | judgment of the Supreme Court of Ohio reversed ⓘ |
| term | 1963 term ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Jacobellis v. Ohio Description of subject: Jacobellis v. Ohio is a 1964 U.S. Supreme Court decision that refined the constitutional standards for obscenity under the First Amendment, famously associated with Justice Potter Stewart’s “I know it when I see it” concurrence.
Referenced by (4)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.