United States v. One Book Called Ulysses

E105634

U.S. federal court case landmark decision obscenity case

United States v. One Book Called Ulysses is a landmark 1933 U.S. federal court decision that lifted the ban on James Joyce’s novel "Ulysses" and significantly redefined American obscenity law in favor of literary freedom.

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All labels observed (5)

Label	Occurrences
U.S. v. One Book Called Ulysses	1
Ulysses is not obscene	1
United States v. One Book Called Ulysses canonical	1
United States v. One Book Called Ulysses (contextual comparison)	1
United States v. One Book Called Ulysses (to the extent inconsistent with new standard)	1

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T896768 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: United States v. One Book Called Ulysses
Context triple: [Ulysses, courtCaseInUnitedStates, United States v. One Book Called Ulysses]

A. Printz v. United States
Printz v. United States is a 1997 U.S. Supreme Court decision that limited federal power by holding that Congress cannot compel state or local officials to implement federal regulatory programs.
B. United States v. Comstock
United States v. Comstock is a 2010 U.S. Supreme Court case that upheld Congress’s authority to civilly commit mentally ill, sexually dangerous federal prisoners beyond their release date under the Constitution’s Necessary and Proper Clause.
C. Reynolds v. United States
Reynolds v. United States is an 1879 U.S. Supreme Court case that established the distinction between protected religious belief and regulable religiously motivated conduct, holding that the Free Exercise Clause does not excuse individuals from compliance with otherwise valid criminal laws such as those banning polygamy.
D. Brandenburg v. Ohio
Brandenburg v. Ohio is a 1969 U.S. Supreme Court decision that significantly strengthened free speech protections by establishing the "imminent lawless action" test for when advocacy of violence can be punished under the First Amendment.
E. Gitlow v. New York
Gitlow v. New York is a 1925 U.S. Supreme Court case that marked a major step in applying First Amendment free speech protections to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: United States v. One Book Called Ulysses
Target entity description: United States v. One Book Called Ulysses is a landmark 1933 U.S. federal court decision that lifted the ban on James Joyce’s novel "Ulysses" and significantly redefined American obscenity law in favor of literary freedom.

A. Printz v. United States
Printz v. United States is a 1997 U.S. Supreme Court decision that limited federal power by holding that Congress cannot compel state or local officials to implement federal regulatory programs.
B. United States v. Comstock
United States v. Comstock is a 2010 U.S. Supreme Court case that upheld Congress’s authority to civilly commit mentally ill, sexually dangerous federal prisoners beyond their release date under the Constitution’s Necessary and Proper Clause.
C. Reynolds v. United States
Reynolds v. United States is an 1879 U.S. Supreme Court case that established the distinction between protected religious belief and regulable religiously motivated conduct, holding that the Free Exercise Clause does not excuse individuals from compliance with otherwise valid criminal laws such as those banning polygamy.
D. Brandenburg v. Ohio
Brandenburg v. Ohio is a 1969 U.S. Supreme Court decision that significantly strengthened free speech protections by establishing the "imminent lawless action" test for when advocacy of violence can be punished under the First Amendment.
E. Gitlow v. New York
Gitlow v. New York is a 1925 U.S. Supreme Court case that marked a major step in applying First Amendment free speech protections to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (47)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	U.S. federal court case ⓘ landmark decision ⓘ obscenity case ⓘ
alsoKnownAs	United States v. One Book Called Ulysses ⓘ surface form: U.S. v. One Book Called Ulysses
appealTo	United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ⓘ
appellateCitation	72 F.2d 705 (2d Cir. 1934) ⓘ
appellateDecisionYear	1934 ⓘ
appellateOutcome	district court judgment affirmed ⓘ
areaOfLaw	First Amendment law ⓘ freedom of expression ⓘ literary censorship ⓘ
citation	5 F. Supp. 182 (S.D.N.Y. 1933) ⓘ
country	United States of America ⓘ surface form: United States
court	United States District Court for the Southern District of New York ⓘ
decisionDate	1933-12-06 ⓘ
defendant	James Joyce's Ulysses ⓘ surface form: One Book Called Ulysses Random House ⓘ surface form: Random House, Inc.
effect	expanded protection for literary freedom ⓘ lifted U.S. ban on James Joyce’s Ulysses ⓘ redefined American obscenity law ⓘ
holding	The book Ulysses may be admitted into the United States ⓘ United States v. One Book Called Ulysses self-linksurface differs ⓘ surface form: Ulysses is not obscene
influenced	Memoirs v. Massachusetts ⓘ Roth v. United States ⓘ later U.S. obscenity jurisprudence ⓘ
judge	John M. Woolsey ⓘ
jurisdiction	U.S. federal courts ⓘ surface form: United States federal courts
languageOfOpinion	English ⓘ
legalIssue	importation of obscene materials ⓘ obscenity ⓘ
locationOfCourt	New York City ⓘ
notableFor	protecting modernist literature ⓘ rejecting purely moralistic standards for obscenity ⓘ
plaintiff	United States of America ⓘ
publisherInvolved	Random House ⓘ
reasoning	honest and sincere treatment of sex is not necessarily obscene ⓘ isolated passages cannot alone determine obscenity ⓘ
relatedWork	James Joyce's Ulysses ⓘ surface form: Ulysses by James Joyce
standardEstablished	artistic and literary merit must be considered ⓘ effect on the average person is relevant to obscenity ⓘ work must be judged as a whole ⓘ
statuteApplied	19 U.S.C. § 1305 ⓘ Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act ⓘ surface form: Tariff Act of 1930
subjectOfCourtCase	novel Ulysses ⓘ
timePeriod	20th century ⓘ
workAuthorAtIssue	James Joyce ⓘ
yearDecided	1933 ⓘ

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (5)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

James Joyce's Ulysses → courtCaseInUnitedStates → United States v. One Book Called Ulysses ⓘ

subject surface form: Ulysses

United States v. One Book Called Ulysses → holding → United States v. One Book Called Ulysses self-linksurface differs ⓘ

this entity surface form: Ulysses is not obscene

United States v. One Book Called Ulysses → alsoKnownAs → United States v. One Book Called Ulysses ⓘ

this entity surface form: U.S. v. One Book Called Ulysses

Roth v. United States → overruledPrecedent → United States v. One Book Called Ulysses ⓘ

this entity surface form: United States v. One Book Called Ulysses (to the extent inconsistent with new standard)

Lady Chatterley's Lover was subject to obscenity trials → hasNotableCase → United States v. One Book Called Ulysses ⓘ

this entity surface form: United States v. One Book Called Ulysses (contextual comparison)

All labels observed (5)

How this entity was disambiguated Show

Statements (47)

How these facts were elicited Show

Referenced by (5)

How this entity was disambiguated

How these facts were elicited