United States v. One Book Called Ulysses

United States v. One Book Called Ulysses, 5 F. Supp. 182 (S.D.N.Y. 1933), affirmed in United States v. One Book Entitled Ulysses by James Joyce (Random House, Inc., Claimant), 72 F. 705 (1934) is a landmark decision of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in a case dealing with freedom of expression. At issue was whether James Joyce's 1922 novel Ulysses was obscene. In deciding it was not, District Court Judge John Munro Woolsey opened the door to importation and publication of serious works of literature that used coarse language or involved sexual subjects.

The trial court's decision was affirmed in a 2–1 decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, which confirmed that offensive language in a literary work is not obscene where it does not promote lust. But Judge Woolsey's trial court opinion is now more widely known, and often cited as an erudite and discerning affirmation of literary free expression.