On April 7, 1969, the Supreme Court ruled in Stanley v. Georgia that the First and 14th Amendments grant the right to the “private possession of obscene matter.”

Officials searched Robert Eli Stanley’s home when he was suspected of bookmaking, or sports gambling. During the search, the officials came across pornographic films, and Stanley was convicted for possession of obscene material. The Supreme Court, however, reversed the conviction and ruled that the state cannot criminally prosecute someone for owning obscene material and keeping it in their private residence.

Justice Thurgood Marshall delivered the decision, stating that “If the First Amendment means anything, it means that a state has no business telling a man, sitting alone in his own house, what books he may read or what films he may watch. Our whole constitutional heritage rebels at the thought of giving government the power to control men’s minds.”