First Monday in October

The Justice Dan Snow character played by Walter Matthau is based on real-life Justice William O. Douglas, who was appointed to the Supreme Court at the age of 40. Douglas was one of the great liberals in High Court history who believed so nearly absolutely in the First Amendment protections of free speech that he did not attend screenings of pornographic films (a plot device in the movie) as he believed that the movies or any form of expression could not be censored under the U.S. Constitution. Thus, he did not need to see the film as he was going to automatically vote against censoring it.

Justice Loomis views a pornographic film to decide it it has "redeeming social or artistic importance". This is an outdated standard for obscenity which was superseded by the so-called "Miller test" in 1973.

Featured in Sneak Previews: Continental Divide, Mommie Dearest, Only When I Laugh, Body Heat, First Monday in October (1981)