Justice John Paul Stevens of the United States Supreme Court has ruled on obscenity cases in seven instances since his appointment. His rulings reveal that he regards obscenity as a nuisance rather than as a danger threatening to undermine the nation's morality, that he supports a nationwide standard to adjudicate obscenity cases, and that he believes that sexually provocative material cannot be banned but that local communities may limit how or where it is available, that broadcasting needs to be regulated to a greater extent than other forms of communication, and that material must be judged only by examination of the material itself and not on the basis of advertising claims. (TJ)