Burstyn v. Wilson was a landmark case the Supreme Court of the United States decided in 1952. The case involved The Miracle, an Italian film that tells the story of a peasant girl seduced by a stranger she believes to be St. Joseph and then gives birth to a son she believes to be the Christ child.

The New York Board of Regents refused to issue a license for the film to be shown in the state, finding it “sacrilegious.” Joseph Burstyn, Inc., the film’s distributor, challenged the ruling, arguing that it violated the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of speech.

The Supreme Court unanimously ruled in favor of Burstyn, holding that the New York law was an unconstitutional prior restraint on free speech. The Court’s decision was a significant victory for free speech advocates and helped to lay the foundation for the decline of motion picture censorship in the United States.

Here are some of the key takeaways from the Burstyn v. Wilson case:

• The First Amendment protects motion pictures as a form of expression.
• Prior restraints on speech are generally unconstitutional unless the government can show that they are necessary to prevent serious harm.
• The government cannot censor speech simply because it is offensive to some people.

The Burstyn v. Wilson case is still considered an important precedent in First Amendment law. It has been cited in many subsequent cases, including cases involving the censorship of books, music, and video games.