Potter Stewart described pornography as 'I know it when I see it' in questioning whether something was classified as ____________.

• A. Obscene
• B. Indecent
• C. Protected
• D. Regulated

Answer: (A)

This phrase is about how the law treats certain sexual material as not protected by the First Amendment because it’s obscene. Potter Stewart’s remark came from a ruling about whether pornographic content could be banned, and he described obscenity as something you can’t neatly define with a rule—“I know it when I see it.” So the material in question is best labeled obscene, a category that the courts have long held may be restricted or barred. Indecent material can be offensive and may be regulated, but much of it remains protected speech; protected describes speech that the First Amendment protects; reg ulated is about government controls, not a classification of speech itself. The phrase highlights the difficulty of defining obscenity and why it’s treated as a special, non-protected category.