In 1915, in a case involving censorship of the cinema in Ohio, the U.S. Supreme Court declared that movies are "a business, pure and simple," and therefore not entitled to constitutional guarantees of free expression. In early 1951, after pressure was brought by Catholic groups, New York State's Board of Regents banned Roberto Rossellini's controversial The Miracle (TIME, Feb. 26, 1951). The courts of New York, citing the U.S. high tribunal precedent, found the film "sacrilegious," upheld the censorship.
This week the Supreme Court reversed both its own 1915 judgment and the courts of New York. The Supreme Court ruled...
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