• Child Molestation

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The Supreme Court ruled in a 7-2 vote yesterday that a strict federal child pornography does not violate the First Amendment right to free speech.

Free Expression activists and other groups had asked the high court to overturn the law, which falls under the 2003 Congressional PROTECT Act. A provision in the Act targets any individual who “advertises, promotes, presents, distributes or solicits” any child pornography, either real or purported.

The Issue

At issue was whether the law was too broad, possibly resulting in the prosecution of documentarians and other artists, as well as unwitting parents or grandparents who, for instance, take “a harmless picture of a child in a bathtub.”

However, the court dismissed such hypotheticals as beside the point. What matters, the majority ruling stated, is whether or not the sender or receiver of the images believes they are sexual in nature.

(Source: Los Angeles Times)

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