Ebert v. Maryland State Board of Censors

This appeal concerns the power of the State to regulate the exhibition of motion picture films. The specific question posed is whether an order of the Circuit Court in Baltimore City, entered 22 March 1973, disapproving 30 peep show films submitted for licensing by Ellwest Stereo Theatres, Inc. (Stereo) through its agent John Ebert, was proper. We vacate the order and remand the case for further proceedings.

I

At long last the Supreme Court of the United States has attempted to clarify the muddled law surrounding the regulation of obscenity vis-a-vis the constitutional right of free speech. On…