Chesapeake B & M, Inc. v. Cassilly

WALTER E. BLACK, Jr., District Judge.

This case involves the interplay between the federal doctrine of abstention from enjoining pending state criminal proceedings and the First Amendment’s prohibition against mass seizures of potentially protected material without a prior adversary hearing. Plaintiff Chesapeake B & M, Inc., t/a Highway Craft, Gift & Book Store (“Highway Craft”), is a shop selling sexually related materials in Aberdeen, Maryland. Highway Craft and plaintiff Joseph Stone, an employee of Highway Craft, have filed suit against the State’s Attorney for Harford County and the…