California video game law struck down
Banning the sale of violent games to minors is a violation of free speech, justices say
The Supreme Court ended its term with a vigorous defense of free speech, striking down a California law that banned sales of violent video games to minors and effectively shielding the entertainment industry from any government effort to limit violent content, reports LA Times.
"Like books, plays and movies, video games communicate ideas," said Justice Antonin Scalia in his majority opinion Monday. And he said there was "no tradition in this country of specially restricting children's access to depictions of violence. … Grimm's Fairy Tales, for example, are grim indeed."
The decision, coming on the term's last day, highlights a consistent theme of the high court under Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.: Freedom of speech is almost always a winner, even if the context is unusual.
In Monday's decision in the case of Brown vs. Entertainment Merchants Assn., a 7-2 majority voted against California's law, but the justices were divided 5 to 4 over whether violence in the media could ever be regulated to protect children.
The video game law passed the Legislature in 2005. It would have imposed a $1,000 fine on those who sold or rented a video game to someone under 18 that featured the "killing, maiming, dismembering or sexual assaulting" of a human image and "appeals to deviant or morbid interest." Before the law could take effect, the gaming industry sued, and judges put the law on hold.
Advocates for control of the media were disappointed. "This ruling replaces the authority of parents with the economic interests of the video game industry," said Tim Winter, president of the Parents Television Council in Los Angeles. "With no fear of any consequence for violating the video game industry's own age restriction guidelines, retailers can now openly, brazenly sell games with unspeakable violence and adult content even to the youngest of children."
The full details on the story can be found in the original article at LA Times.
"Like books, plays and movies, video games communicate ideas," said Justice Antonin Scalia in his majority opinion Monday. And he said there was "no tradition in this country of specially restricting children's access to depictions of violence. … Grimm's Fairy Tales, for example, are grim indeed."
The decision, coming on the term's last day, highlights a consistent theme of the high court under Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.: Freedom of speech is almost always a winner, even if the context is unusual.
In Monday's decision in the case of Brown vs. Entertainment Merchants Assn., a 7-2 majority voted against California's law, but the justices were divided 5 to 4 over whether violence in the media could ever be regulated to protect children.
The video game law passed the Legislature in 2005. It would have imposed a $1,000 fine on those who sold or rented a video game to someone under 18 that featured the "killing, maiming, dismembering or sexual assaulting" of a human image and "appeals to deviant or morbid interest." Before the law could take effect, the gaming industry sued, and judges put the law on hold.
Advocates for control of the media were disappointed. "This ruling replaces the authority of parents with the economic interests of the video game industry," said Tim Winter, president of the Parents Television Council in Los Angeles. "With no fear of any consequence for violating the video game industry's own age restriction guidelines, retailers can now openly, brazenly sell games with unspeakable violence and adult content even to the youngest of children."
The full details on the story can be found in the original article at LA Times.
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