4.2.12 WC: 191694 After some legal argument, Judge Alberti declared that he was ready to see Deep Throat to decide whether it was obscene. I argued that the judge need not view the film: no matter what its content, I said, it would be unconstitutional for him to enjoin the showing of any film. If the D.A. thought the film was obscene, he could wait until it was exhibited and then arrest those responsible for its being shown. Judge Alberti insisted, however, on having Deep Throat screened for him. As the equipment was being wheeled in the courtroom, I informed the judge that I had no intention of watching the film. I was preserving an important point for any jury trial that the students might have in the future. I would tell the jurors that I had never seen Deep Throat because I had chosen not to, and that they had never seen Deep Throat because they had chosen not to. I would argue that the right to choose not to see a film is just as important as the right to choose to see a film. Indeed, most countries that prevent their citizens from seeing certain films also require their citizens to see other films. I would remind the jurors that it was the District Attorney who was making them see a film they had chosen not to see, in order to have them decide whether other people, who have also chosen not to see would be offended if they were to see it. I hoped, by this argument, to point out the absurd nature of the jurors’ task in an obscenity prosecution, and to get them to focus on the important issue —namely, whether the outside of the movie theater, the only thing that the unwilling public may have to endure, is offensive to those who cannot avoid it. Judge Alberti excused me from watching Deep Throat, and Stork, Hagen and I left the courtroom while the judge, half a dozen assistant D.A.’s, and a few court house personnel watched Linda Lovelace and Harry Reems on a small video machine. After about forty minutes Judge Alberti abruptly stopped the videotape and summ