Stanley Fleishman (1920–1999) was an American attorney best known for his expertise in the constitutional defense of the First Amendment in obscenity cases and for his advocacy on behalf of the disabled community.
When he was a young child, Fleishman contracted polio, and needed to use crutches and braces for the rest of his life because of paralysis in his legs and arm.
After twenty-five years of mostly successful outcomes in obscenity trials, he began to advocate in the courtroom for people with disabilities, often in class action civil rights lawsuits.
[1][2] Fleishman participated in and won many First Amendment obscenity cases, defending adult movie theaters, films such as Deep Throat, and well-known books such as Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller,[3] as well as lesser known works such as Sex Life of a Cop.
David L. Hudson, Jr. states that “His most important First Amendment case was arguably Smith v. California, which established that booksellers could not be held strictly liable for the contents of every book on their shelves.”[4] Fleishman was married to his wife, Doris, for more than 50 years, and had three children: Bette, Sue, and Judy.