For Larry Flynt, the outspoken publisher of Hustler magazine, content is almost beside the point. To some extent, as long as it shocks, provokes and challenges, it is magazine material. A fictional interview with evangelical pastor Jerry Falwell, who founded the powerful lobbying group Moral Majority, was right on par for the shocking and provocative course. But Falwell fought back, suing Flynt and the magazine for libel and emotional damages. A lower court cleared Hustler of the libel suit, but found it liable for the damages, awarding $150,000 to Falwell. When an appellate court affirmed the decision, Flynt went to the Supreme Court, which agreed to hear the case.On this day, February 24, in 1988, the Supreme Court overturned the judgement against Hustler, saying that freedom of speech can only be curbed when it is obscene.

It was not the first trip of Flynt to face the Supreme Court justices, and not even the second. Four years prior, in a much less flashy and more technical case, Flynt had an outburst in front of the judges, which led one to charge him with contempt of court. Before that, Flynt defended his company in 1981 against charges of disseminating obscenity in Ohio. He relished his role as a first amendment advocate, even as it made him the target of frequent lawsuits and even a shooting.