"Freedom of speech, freedom of expression, both oral and written, from governmental prior restraint, except as such expression constitutes libel, slander, obscenity, sedition, or criminal conduct such as bribery, perjury, or incitement to riot." In the U.S., this freedom is protected by the 1st Amendment to the Constitution, and is considered essential to the vitality of representative government. When our founding fathers wrote the Constitution and the first 10 amendments known as the Bill of Rights, protection and responsibilities of government towards the people were explicitly laid down. Unfortunately, most of these rights for individuals were at the federal level, leaving the states to inact more personal and often times more unfair laws for citizens at the state level. The Fourteenth Amendment states: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction therof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. N!
             o state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."
             In case number 582, Roth v. United States; the above social freedoms were argued and contested in the United States Supreme Court. During the years preceding the Spring and Summer of 1957, Roth conducted a business in New York in the publication and sale of books, photographs and magazines using circulars and advertising matter to solicit sales. Roth brought upon criminal investigations because of the subject matter of his business. At issue was whether or not his mailing of obscene circulars and advertising, and an obscene book, was in violation of the federal obscenity statute.
             A federal statute states that obscene, lewd, lascivious, ...