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4.2.12 WC: 191694 newspaper, book, painting or magazine can be hauled into a Federal court anywhere in the United States and charged with participating in a national conspiracy.” Shortly thereafter, Nat Hentoff wrote a long front-page analysis of the Village Voice. Hentoff warned his readers of the consequences of a government victory in the Reems case. Alan Dershowitz, a Harvard Law School professor and one of the nation’s preeminent constitutional lawyers, has never been known as an apocalyptic civil libertarian. Accordingly, when Professor Dershowitz speaks of the recent criminal convictions in a porno-film case as being so chilling as to ultimately also freeze the printed word, the warning is a weightier than if it had come from those who habitually clamor that the constitutional sky is falling... Should the verdict against Harry Reems be sustained, obscenity indictments throughout the country will pyramid. Hentoff explained that the implications of the Reems prosecution go well beyond obscenity. Ifa conspiracy charge like this one was to be upheld on appeal, the government could make dangerous use of that precedent in political cases involving, for example, antiwar activists. Hentoff then quoted my legal argument: “[H]ere was an actor who, on the one day he worked on Deep Throat, had no idea what the ultimate film was going to look like. He knew it was a sex film, but he had not seen any script in advance. There was no way he could know whether it was going to be soft core or hard core. And, in fact, Harry never even saw the film before it was released. Yet he’s convicted of a conspiracy to move the film, in the form it finally took, across state lines.” Following the publication of the Hentoff article had, hundreds of readers came forward and volunteered their assistance. It also generated numerous other stories—presenting our side of the case. KING OF THE PORNO ACTORS FINDS HIMSELF IN DEEP THROES IN TROUBLE UP TO HIS THROAT HOW HARRY GOT REAMED DEEP THREAT PORN’S DEEP GOAT REEMS SHAFTED IN BIBLE BELT Reems and I crisscrossed the country, speaking at universities, town halls and other venues. Our appearances were widely covered by the media. The New York Times described a joint appearance at the Harvard Law Forum: Harry stood with a portrait of Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter beaming down on him. Besides him sat Alan Dershowitz, looking like a tweedy Marx Brother with his wild nimbus of ash-blond hair, saying that he felt Harry Reems’ trial was the most significant First Amendment conspiracy case since Dr. Spock. 109 HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_017196