In an 8-1 opinion from Chief Justice John Roberts, the Supreme Court has upheld a lower court ruling striking down a federal law that bans images of animal cruelty. The Court’s opinion says the law is “substantially overbroad, and therefore unvalid under the First Amendment.”<\/p>\n
From the Opinion:<\/p>\n
“While the prohibition of animal cruelty has a long history in American law, there is no evidence of a similar tradition prohibiting depictions of such cruelty.”<\/p>\n
CJ Roberts says the law which made it a crime to create, sale, possess depictions of animal cruelty including dog fighting and “crush” videos “creates a criminal prohibition of alarming breadth.”<\/p>\n
Today’s ruling is a huge victory for First Amendment advocates. To that end Chief Justice Roberts says the First Amendment “reflects a judgment by the American people that the benefits of its restrictions on the Government outweigh the costs.”<\/p>\n
Justice Samuel Alito was the only dissenter.<\/p>\n
Alito says today’s ruling “has the practical effect of legalizing the sale of such videos and is thus likely to spur a resumption of their production….”<\/p>\n