Rowan v. United States Post Office Department

Various publishers and mail-order businesses (plaintiffs) challenged a federal statute letting individuals notify the Postmaster General that they did not want sexually arousing or provocative commercial advertisements sent to their home, after which the Post Office (defendant) would issue orders barring senders from further mailings to those addresses. The plaintiffs argued the statute unconstitutionally restricted their free speech; the district court upheld the statute, and the plaintiffs appealed.