Author: Kris Anne Bonifacio

Today, U.S. District Judge Rya W. Zobel granted a preliminary injunction against the online censorship law that went into effect in Massachusetts earlier this year. Massachusetts booksellers, trade associations, and the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts filed suit in July to block the law because it imposes severe restrictions on constitutionally protected speech on the Internet, on the grounds that such material might be “harmful to minors.” The Court enjoined the law because it did not require that such material was purposefully sent to a person the sender knew to be a minor.

A coalition of organizations and local booksellers today filed suit to block a broad Massachusetts censorship law that bans constitutionally protected speech on the Internet for topics including contraception and pregnancy, sexual health, literature, and art.

In a resounding 7-2 decision, the Supreme Court today struck down a California law banning video games with violent themes and images, saying that the state’s attempt to create a new category of First Amendment regulation for minors was “unprecedented and mistaken.” Media Coalition, a trade association that defends the First Amendment rights of mainstream media, said the ruling sends a clear message to legislators that such efforts to restrict free expression would find no welcome at the Court.

In a friend-of-the-court brief filed today, Media Coalition, a trade association that defends the First Amendment rights of mainstream media, urged the Supreme Court to strike down California’s restrictions on video games with violent themes, saying that the Court should not create a new exception to the First Amendment for speech with violent content for video games or any other media.

The Supreme Court today agreed to review a ruling that the First Amendment bars restrictions on video games with violent themes. Media Coalition, a trade association that defends the First Amendment rights of mainstream media, said it hoped that in doing so the Court would put an end to a decade-long effort to restrict such content.