Hannegan v. Esquire, Inc.
| Hannegan v. Esquire, Inc. | |
|---|---|
| Argued January 11, 1946 Decided February 4, 1946 | |
| Full case name | Robert E. Hannegan, Postmaster General v. Esquire, Inc. |
| Citations | 327 U.S. 146 (more) 66 S.Ct. 456; 90 L. Ed. 586; 1946 U.S. LEXIS 2808 |
| Case history | |
| Prior | Dismissed, 55 F. Supp. 1015 (D.D.C.); rev'd, 151 F.2d 49 (D.C. Cir.); cert. granted, 326 U.S. 708 (1945). |
| Holding | |
| The Postmaster General is without power to prescribe standards for the literature or the art which a mailable periodical (not obscene) disseminates, or to determine whether the contents of the periodical meet some standard of the public good or welfare. | |
| Court membership | |
| |
| Case opinions | |
| Majority | Douglas, joined by Stone, Black, Reed, Frankfurter, Murphy, Rutldge, Burton |
| Concurrence | Frankfurter |
| Jackson took no part in the consideration or decision of the case. | |
| Laws applied | |
| 39 U.S.C. § 221 (1946) (Section 7 of the Classification Act of 1879) | |
Hannegan v. Esquire, Inc., 327 U.S. 146 (1946), was a U.S. Supreme Court case argued between the United States Postal Service and Esquire magazine. In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the USPS was without statutory authority to revoke a periodical's second class permit on the basis of objectionable material that was not obscene.