ABSTRACT
Narrowly defined, censorship in the United States is action by government or its agents that has one of two results: 1) puts a prior restraint on a speech act, or 2) interferes in the editorial function of the creators of expression. An example of the former is when the Broward County (Florida) Sheriff (1990) informed record retailers that continuing to sell 2Live Crew’s As Nasty as They Wanna Be (Luke Skyywalker 107; 1989; #29) would result in arrest because a judge had issued an advisory opinion that there was probable cause to find it obscene. Based on this “advice,” retailers took the disc off sale even though it had not been found obscene in court. The same judge that agreed there had been an illegal prior restraint also found the disc to be obscene; fortunately, the second part of his opinion was overturned on appeal. The second category speaks to content-based regulation that encroaches on the protection of speech guaranteed by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. Government is always free to request that editors and creators withhold some expression, but they cannot compel it. Only after a speech act has occurred and been allowed to circulate can its legality be questioned.
