Hustler on the hill: free speech and free porn.IN A MEMO issued in late February, the sergeant at arms SERGEANT AT ARMS, An officer appointed by a legislative body, whose duties are to enforce the orders given by such bodies, generally under the warrant of its presiding officer. of the Senate, William H. Pickle William H. Pickle was the 37th United States Senate Sergeant at Arms. He was sworn in on March 17 2003 after a lifetime of public service, especially relating to the security of the institutions of the United States. , informed legislators that "the Senate Post Office has delivered, and will continue to be delivering, copies of Hustler magazine that the publisher is mailing to all Congressional offices." The nudie
There are many interesting and historic buildings among the large number of facilities. to enjoin To direct, require, command, or admonish. Enjoin connotes a degree of urgency, as when a court enjoins one party in a lawsuit by ordering the person to do, or refrain from doing, something to prevent permanent loss to the other party or parties. other postal customers from sending them "sexually provocative" material. But in 1986, in United States Postal Service v. Hustler, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia District of Columbia, federal district (2000 pop. 572,059, a 5.7% decrease in population since the 1990 census), 69 sq mi (179 sq km), on the east bank of the Potomac River, coextensive with the city of Washington, D.C. (the capital of the United States). ruled that the First Amendment right "to petition the government for redress of grievances" made that law inapplicable to elected officials in their offices. Capitol Hill's most recent round of interest in Flynt's raunchy rag began last spring, when Charles Isom, a spokesperson for Rep. Chris Cannon (R-Utah), noticed it among the piles of mail opened by staffers. Concluding that it was "unseemly" for House interns to have to deal with the magazine, Isom tried to have delivery stopped--to no avail. According to Brinck Slattery, a former intern in the office of Rep. Christopher Shays (RConn.), his boss's magazines were kept in an office cabinet until they could be disposed of discreetly--though when a new intern arrived, it was common for a few copies to go missing. The magazines might not be much use even to staffers who do want to read them, though. According to the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call, thanks to the irradiation process to which all congressional mail is now subject as a precaution against biological agents, the issues prematurely encounter the fate met by many a Hustler: The pages are all stuck together. |
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