Morris Pashman

Morris Pashman (September 27, 1912 – October 3, 1999) was an American Republican Party politician and attorney who served as Mayor of Passaic, New Jersey before spending 23 years as a judge, 10 of them on the New Jersey Supreme Court. On the state's highest court, he ruled the book Fanny Hill obscene and banned its publishing in the state, issued rulings in two major murder cases, advocated for the equal citizenship rights of the mentally handicapped and was one of the few dissenting votes objecting to the jailing of a reporter who refused to turn over his notes in a murder case.

Pashman was born in Passaic on September 27, 1912. He graduated from Rutgers School of Law—Newark in 1936.

After spending time in private practice, Pashman was named in 1946 to serve in Passaic on its police court, and later on its municipal court. Elected Mayor of Passaic in 1951, he served until 1955 and then served as city commissioner and director of revenue and finance.

After two years on Passaic County Court, Governor of New Jersey Robert B. Meyner appointed him to New Jersey Superior Court in 1961. He became the assignment judge for Passaic County in 1965 and for Bergen County in 1966.

In a 1964 decision, Pashman upheld Bergen County prosecutor Guy W. Calissi's decision to ban the sale of the John Cleland book Fanny Hill in New Jersey, calling the book "sufficiently obscene to forfeit the protection of the First Amendment of the Constitution." In addition to failing tests of "social value," "prurient interest" and "patently offensive," Pashman ruled that Fanny Hill failed the "hard-core pornography test," noting that the "book may be well-written but still obscene." The decision was overturned, and Pashman would later call his actions in the case an "aberration," saying that "I think every judge or justice is entitled to one."

...
Wikipedia