Author: Kris Anne Bonifacio

Media Coalition, a trade association that defends the First Amendment rights of mainstream media, has brought together a wide range of groups in urging the Supreme Court to strike down California’s restrictions on video games with violent themes, saying that free speech principles previously upheld by the Justices should apply to video games as well.

This morning, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that two Oregon statutes that criminalize distributing sex education and other non-obscene materials to minors are unconstitutional in violation of the First Amendment. The State of Oregon argued that the statutes applied only to “hardcore pornography,” but the Ninth Circuit found that they applied to much more, including “The Joy of Sex,” “Mommy Laid an Egg, or Where Do Babies Come From,” Robie Harris’ “It’s Perfectly Normal,” Kentaro Miura’s manga “Berserk,” Judy Blume’s “Forever,” and Margaret Atwood’s “A Handmaid’s Tale.” The plaintiffs did not challenge Oregon’s existing law making it a crime to contact a minor with the intent of having sexual contact.

Media Coalition announces the filing of an appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit of a decision by U.S. District Court Judge Mosman upholding an Oregon law that bars the sale or rental of certain books, magazines, and other content to minors or children. Judge Mosman in his ruling acknowledged that the law does not include the specific test for First Amendment protection as established by the Supreme Court but found the law constitutional, as interpreted, because he found it to be functionally equivalent to the protections afforded by the First Amendment.

People cannot be prosecuted for posting content constitutionally protected for adults on generally-accessible websites, and are not required by law to label such content that they do post, U.S. District Judge Dee Benson held yesterday. Judge Benson’s order was issued in a lawsuit challenging a Utah law that threatened the free speech rights of online content providers and Internet users. Plaintiffs included a Utah artist; trade associations representing booksellers, publishers, graphic and comic books, and librarians; and the ACLU of Utah.