Constitutional Law

High Court Upholds Child Porn Law Against First Amendment Challenge

The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld a 2003 federal law that sets a five-year mandatory prison terms for those convicted of promoting or pandering child pornography.

In a 7-2 decision, the high court turned away First Amendment concerns in upholding the child porn law. Writing for the majority in U.S. v. Williams, Justice Antonin Scalia maintained that there was no “possibility that virtual child pornography or sex between youthful-looking adult actors might be covered by the term ‘simulated sexual intercourse.’” Additionally Scalia said the First Amendment does not protect “offers to provide or requests to obtain child pornography.”

Justices David Souter and Ruth Bader Ginsburg dissented, citing First Amendment concerns. The justices argued that promoting of images that include couples that are not minors could still trigger the law. The Associated Press reported that opponents of the law argued it could be used to punish makers of movies that depict adolescent sex.

“I believe that maintaining the First Amendment protection of expression we have previously held to cover fake child pornography requires a limit to the law’s criminalization of pandering proposals,” Souter wrote.

In other action, the high court upheld a federal explosives law conviction of Ahmed Ressam, an Algerian member of al-Qaeda. The 8-1 decision in U.S. v. Ressam centered on a federal law that mandates a 10-year prison term for anyone who “carries and explosive during the commission of any felony which may be prosecuted in a court of the United States.”

The Court, in another federal sentencing case, ruled on the Armed Career Criminal Act, which provides a minimum 15-year sentence for persons convicted of three prior illegal gun possessions. The high court ruled 6-3 in U.S. v. Rodriguez.

Full post as published by ACS Blog on May 19, 2008 (boomark / email).