The 1967 Redrup v. New York case is generally considered the end of American censorship. Robert Redrup was a Times Square newsstand clerk who sold two Greenleaf Classics pulp sex novels, Lust Pool ^[1] and Shame Agent ^[2] to plainclothes police. He was tried and convicted in 1965.

In true nobrow fashion Hamling did not believe he was selling “commercialized obscenity,” nor would he admit to “titillating the prurient interests of people with a weakness for such expression.” Hamling felt his books were giving people who would never have the skills to read and enjoy Ulysses or Fanny Hill or Naked Lunch what they wanted.

With financial backing from William Hamling, Redrup appealed his case to the Supreme Court where his conviction is over-turned by 7-2. The court’s final ruling on May 8 in 1967 affirmed that materials that were not pandered, sold to minors, or foisted on unwilling audiences were constitutionally protected.

After this decision, the Supreme Court systematically and summarily reversed, without further opinion, scores of obscenity rulings involving paperback sex books, girlie magazines and peep shows.

Tip of the hat to Patrick J. Kearney and thanks to Earl Kemp.