Baron

The plaintiff, doing business as Star of Fire Gem Co., was engaged in selling through the mail “Marilyn Monroe Coasters” advertised in periodicals of general circulation. The Assistant Solicitor of the Post Office Department issued a complaint charging the plaintiff with receiving remittances through the mail for the coasters which were described in the complaint as “obscene, lewd, lascivious and indecent in content and character”. 39 U.S.C.A. § 259a. An answer was filed and a hearing conducted in Washington, D. C. The hearing examiner filed his decision and the Solicitor issued an order directing the defendant to return to the sender all mail matter addressed to the plaintiff with the words, “Unlawful: mail to this address returned by order of the Postmaster General”.

Plaintiff has filed this action for a judicial review under the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C.A. § 1001 et seq., and asserts that the Solicitor’s order is arbitrary, capricious, and unfair in that neither the hearing examiner nor the Solicitor gave any consideration to current community standards of what is offensive to established notions of decency and that they disregarded entirely the fact that the same…