US History Trivia: How did the Supreme Court once famously describe obscenity?

Ahh, porn.

Well, now that that's out of the way - pornography is an issue which, in some form or fashion, has continuously vexed the United States, particularly its moral and legal implications.  More than one case involving pornography have wound up in the Supreme Court, which, over the past few decades, has handed down a variety of rulings on the subject.

But, here is today's question, off of Pocket Trivia: US History: Which of the following was once used by the Supreme Court as a description for obscenity?  Was it:

• "Despicable, deplorable and to be tolerated at all costs."
• "I know it when I see it."
• "A threat to the fabric of our American society."
• "Woohoo!"

Well, let's get one thing out of the way: It wasn't "Woohoo!"  But you probably figured that one out.

Anyway, the correct answer is actually "I know it when I see it."  This famous quote comes from Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, who was referring to hard-core pornography in the case of Jacobellis v. Ohio.  In that case, the state of Ohio had banned the showing of a film called The Lovers, calling the film obscene.  The U.S. Supreme Court reversed the State of Ohio and the Ohio Supreme Court, saying that the film was not obscene and reversing the conviction of Nico Jacobellis, manager of a theater that had shown the film. However, in the case, there was no majority opinion - instead, there were four concurring opinions, leading to legal ambiguity on the issue until nine years later, in Miller v. California, when the Court found that obscenity was not protected by the first amendment.

The full text of Potter's famous quote:   "I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description; and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it, and the motion picture involved in this case is not that."