Editing Larry Flynt (section)

==Legal battles==
Flynt was embroiled in many legal battles regarding the regulation of pornography and [[free speech]] within the [[United States]], especially attacking the ''[[Miller v. California]]'' (1973) [[obscenity]] exception to the [[First Amendment to the United States Constitution|First Amendment]]. He was first prosecuted on obscenity and organized crime charges in Cincinnati in 1976 by [[Simon L. Leis Jr.|Simon Leis]], who headed a local anti-pornography committee. He was given a sentence of 7–25&nbsp;years in prison, but served only six days in jail; the sentence was overturned on appeal following allegations of prosecutorial misconduct, as well as judicial and jury bias.<ref>{{cite web |website=[[IMDb]] |series=Larry Flynt |title=Biography |url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0283658/bio |access-date=August 17, 2015}}</ref> One argument resulting from this case was reviewed by the [[U.S. Supreme Court]] in 1981.<ref>[http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=case&court=us&vol=451&page=619 ''Larry Flynt v. Ohio'', 451 U.S. 619].</ref> Flynt made an appearance in a feature film based on the trial, ''[[The People vs. Larry Flynt]]'' (1996), playing the judge who sentenced him in the case.

Outraged by a derogatory cartoon published in ''Hustler'' in 1976, [[Kathy Keeton]], then girlfriend of [[Penthouse (magazine)|''Penthouse'']] publisher [[Bob Guccione]], filed a [[libel]] suit against Flynt in Ohio. Her lawsuit was dismissed because she had missed the deadline under the [[statute of limitations]]. She then filed a new lawsuit in [[New Hampshire]], where ''Hustler''{{'}}s sales were very small. The question of whether she could sue there reached the U.S. Supreme Court in 1983, with Flynt losing the case.<ref>[http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=case&court=us&vol=465&page=770 ''Keeton v. Hustler'', 465 U.S. 770].</ref> This case is occasionally reviewed today in first-year [[legal education|law school]] [[Civil Procedure]] courses, due to its implications regarding personal [[jurisdiction]] over a defendant.

During the proceedings in ''[[Keeton v. Hustler Magazine, Inc.|Keeton v. Hustler Magazine]]'', Flynt shouted "Fuck this court!" and called the justices "nine assholes and one token cunt" (referring to Justice [[Sandra Day O'Connor]]).<ref>{{cite web |first=David |last=Bowman |date=July 8, 2004 |title=Citizen Flynt |website=Salon.com |url=http://dir.salon.com/story/books/int/2004/07/08/flynt/index.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060826022648/http://dir.salon.com/story/books/int/2004/07/08/flynt/index.html |archive-date=August 26, 2006}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Alpert |first=Irving |date=2021-05-13 |title='Fuck This Court': We Obtained Larry Flynt's FBI File and It's Pretty Wild |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/larry-flynt-fbi-file-hustler/ |access-date=2024-11-13 |website=VICE |language=en-US}}</ref> Chief Justice [[Warren E. Burger]] had him arrested for [[contempt of court]], but the charge was later dismissed.

Also in 1983, he leaked an [[FBI]] surveillance tape to the media regarding [[John DeLorean]]. In the videos, when arresting DeLorean, the FBI is shown asking him whether he would rather defend himself or have "his daughter's head smashed in".<ref>{{cite web |title=Diapered in Old Glory |series=Crime library on the adventures of Larry Flynt |website=Trutv.com |url=http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/celebrity/larry_flynt/8.html |access-date=December 17, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120420034520/http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/celebrity/larry_flynt/8.html |archive-date=April 20, 2012 }}</ref> During the subsequent trial, Flynt wore a [[U.S. flag]] as a [[diaper]] and was jailed for six months for [[Flag desecration|desecration of the flag]].<ref>{{cite news |department=Around the Nation |title=Flynt indicted on charge of desecrating the flag |date=November 26, 1983 |agency=[[United Press International]] |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/11/26/us/around-the-nation-flynt-indicted-on-charge-of-desecrating-the-flag.html |access-date=May 7, 2010}}</ref>

In 1988, Flynt won a Supreme Court decision, ''[[Hustler Magazine v. Falwell]]'', after being sued by Reverend [[Jerry Falwell Sr.|Jerry Falwell]] in 1983, over an offensive ad parody in ''Hustler'' that suggested that Falwell's first sexual encounter was with his mother in an [[outhouse]]. Falwell sued Flynt, citing "[[emotional distress]]" caused by the ad. The decision clarified that public figures cannot recover damages for "intentional infliction of emotional distress" based on parodies. After Falwell's death, Flynt said despite their differences, he and Falwell had become friends over the years, adding, "I always appreciated his sincerity even though I knew what he was selling and he knew what I was selling."<ref>{{cite news |last=Flynt |first=Larry |date=May 20, 2007 |title=The porn king and the preacher |newspaper=[[The Los Angeles Times]] |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-may-20-op-flynt20-story.html |access-date=April 13, 2010}}</ref>

As a result of a [[sting operation]] in April&nbsp;1998, Flynt was charged with a number of obscenity-related offenses concerning the sale of sex videos to a youth in a Cincinnati adult store he owned. In a plea agreement in 1999, LFP, Inc. (Flynt's corporate [[Holding company|holdings]] group) pleaded guilty to two counts of pandering obscenity and agreed to stop selling adult videos in Cincinnati.

In June&nbsp;2003, prosecutors in [[Hamilton County, Ohio]], attempted to revive criminal charges of pandering obscene material against Flynt and his brother Jimmy Flynt, charging that they had violated the 1999 agreement. Flynt said that he no longer had an interest in the Hustler Shops and that prosecutors had no basis for the lawsuit.

In January&nbsp;2009, Flynt filed suit against two nephews, Jimmy Flynt&nbsp;II and Dustin Flynt, for the use of his family name in producing pornography. He regarded their pornography to be inferior.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Kim |first1=Victoria |last2=Blankstein |first2=Andrew |title=Porn mogul Larry Flynt sues nephews over use of family name |date=January 7, 2009 |newspaper=[[The Los Angeles Times]] |url=https://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-larry-flynt7-2009jan07,0,6802038.story |access-date=January 8, 2009 }}</ref> He prevailed on the main [[trademark infringement]] issue, but lost on invasion of privacy claims.<ref>{{Cite news|first=John |last=Rogers |title=Larry Flynt wins partial victory against nephews in court battle over new porn company |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/11/larry-flynt-wins-porn-mag_n_389544.html |website=[[The Huffington Post]] |date=December 11, 2009 |access-date=July 13, 2010 }}</ref>

In May 2021, [[VICE News]] published and reported on a copy of Flynt's 322-page FBI file, which the outlet obtained through a [[Freedom of Information Act (United States)|Freedom of Information Act]] (FOIA) request. It contained details of his 1983 arrest for disrupting the U.S. Supreme Court during the ''Keeton'' hearing and the unconfirmed claim of a confidential informant that Flynt had asked mercenary [[Mitchell WerBell III]] to rig his wheelchair with C-4 explosives so he could blow himself up during that same hearing, taking all of the justices with him.<ref>{{Cite web|title='Fuck This Court': We Obtained Larry Flynt's FBI File and It's Pretty Wild|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/larry-flynt-fbi-file-hustler/|access-date=June 18, 2021|website=Vice.com|date=May 13, 2021 |language=en}}</ref>