Williams v. Pryor
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Williams v. Pryor, 229 F.3d 1331 (11th Cir. 2000),[1] rehearing denied, 240 F.3d 944 (11th Cir. 2001)[2] was a federal lawsuit that unsuccessfully challenged an Alabama law criminalizing the sale of sex toys in the state. In 1998, a statute enacted by the legislature of the State of Alabama amended the obscenity provisions of the Alabama Code to make the distribution of certain defined sexual devices a criminal offense. Vendors and users of such devices filed a constitutional challenge to the statute in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama against William H. Pryor, Jr., in his official capacity as the Attorney General of the State of Alabama.[3] The district court declined to hold the statute violated any constitutional right but determined the statute was unconstitutional because it lacked a rational basis.[3] The State appealed to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, which reversed the lower court ruling on October 12, 2000.[1]
Williams v. Pryor | |
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Court | United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit |
Full case name | Sherri Williams, B.J. Bailey, et al. v. Bill Pryor |
Decided | October 12, 2000 |
Citation(s) | 229 F.3d 1331 |
Case history | |
Prior history | 41 F. Supp. 2d 1257 (N.D. Ala. 1999) |
Subsequent history | Rehearing denied, 240 F.3d 944 (January 31, 2001) |
Court membership | |
Judge(s) sitting | R. Lanier Anderson III, Susan Harrell Black, Cynthia Holcomb Hall (9th Cir.) |
Case opinions | |
Majority | Black, joined by a unanimous court |
Laws applied | |
U.S. Const. amend. XIV |