Legal Commentary

SCOTUS Strikes Down Law Prohibiting Videos Of Animal Cruelty

By Big Tent Democrat

US. v. Stevens (PDF), 8-1, with Alito in dissent. From the syllabus:

Congress enacted 18 U. S. C. §48 to criminalize the commercial creation, sale, or possession of certain depictions of animal cruelty. The statute addresses only portrayals of harmful acts, not the underlying conduct. It applies to any visual or auditory depiction “in which a living animal is intentionally maimed, mutilated, tortured, wounded, or killed,” if that conduct violates federal or state law where “the creation, sale, or possession takes place,” §48(c)(1). Another clause exempts depictions with “serious religious, political, scientific, educational, journalistic, historical, or artistic value.” §48(b). The legislative background of §48 focused primarily on “crush videos,” which feature the torture and killing of helpless animals and are said to appeal to persons with a specific sexual fetish. Respondent Stevens was indicted under §48 for selling videos depicting dogfighting. He moved to dismiss, arguing that §48 is facially invalid under the First Amendment. The District Court denied his motion, and Stevens was convicted. The Third Circuit vacated the conviction and declared §48 facially unconstitutional as a content-based regulation of protected speech.

Held: Section §48 is substantially overbroad, and therefore invalid under the First Amendment.

Haven't read the opinion but I am curious if the question of whether Congress can regulate the underlying conduct came up.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on April 20, 2010 (boomark / email).