Life, Interrupted

In what's being called a resounding victory for free speech, the U.S. Supreme Court in an 8-1 ruling overturned the conviction of a Virginia man who was sentenced to three years in prison for creating several videos that included scenes of dog fighting. Robert Stevens was found guilty under a federal statute that prohibits the creation, sale or possession of "a depictor of animal cruelty" with "the intention of placing the depiction in interstate or foreign commerce for commercial gain." The court, however, struck down the law, saying it "created a criminal prohibition of alarming breadth."

Prosecutors argued that the law, passed in 1999, included an exemption for works that have "serious" value, was a necessary tool to prevent the sale of so-called "crush" videos, fetish films that feature small animals being crushed by women's feet. In an opinion authored by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., however, the Court rejected that proposition, saying that "[a]s a free-floating test for First Amendment coverage, that idea is startling and dangerous." Samuel Alito was the lone dissenter, noting that the government could legitimately balance free speech against purported "societal costs."

The rest of the PW article is here.

I have my eye on you, Justice Alito. I don't like the way you think. Free speech is one of the top things that makes us different from the rest of the world. It defines the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Don't mess with it.