Petitioners were convicted in the United States District Court for the Central District of California of multiple counts of knowingly transporting allegedly obscene materials in interstate commerce by common carrier in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1462 and 1465 (1976 ed.). Although it overturned convictions on some counts, the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed petitioners' convictions on three counts and also petitioner Sherwin's conviction for conspiracy under 18 U.S.C. § 371 (1976 ed.).
Petitioners ask this Court to consider whether "a standard of scienter which authorizes obscenity convictions on mere knowledge of the 'sexual orientation' of material impermissibly chill[s] the dissemination of expression protected under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution." Pet. for Cert. 2. This question is much the same as that presented in Ballew v. Georgia, 435 U.S. 223, 98 S. Ct. 1029, 55 L. d.2d 234 (1978); Sewell v. Georgia, 435 U.S. 982, 98 S. Ct. 1635, 56 L. Ed. 2d 76 (1978); Robinson v. Georgia, 435 U.S. 991, 98 S. Ct. 1640, 56 L. Ed. 2d 80 (1978), and Teal v. Georgia, 435 U.S. 989, 98 S. Ct. 1639, 56 L. Ed. 2d 79 (1978). For the reasons stated in my dissent from denial of certiorari in Sewell, supra, 435 U.S., at 982, 98 S. Ct. 1635, I would hear oral argument on this issue. Barring this, I would summarily reverse petitioners' convictions. See, e. g., United States v. Orito, 413 U.S. 139, 147, 93 S. Ct. 2674, 37 L. Ed. 2d 513 (1973) (BRENNAN, J., dissenting); Christian v. United States, 432 U.S. 910, 97 S. Ct. 2959, 53 L. Ed. 2d 1083 (1977) (BRENNAN, J., dissenting from denial of certiorari); Danley v. United States, 424 U.S. 929, 96 S. Ct. 1143, 47 L. Ed. 2d 338 (1976) (same); Kutler v. United States, 423 U.S. 959, 96 S. Ct. 374, 46 L. Ed. 2d 288 (1975) (same).