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Tuesday, April 16, 2002


Supremes Want Their Kiddie Smut, Too

In a 6-3 ruling written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, the high court struck down a federal pornography law today. The so-called "virtual" child pornography law, was adopted by Congress and signed by President Bill Clinton in 1996.

The statute made it a crime to have computer-generated pictures that look like real children engaged in sexual acts. Distributing or possessing such pictures was a crime -- even if the images did not involve real children.

Citing Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Oscar winning American Beauty and Traffic as examples of artistic expression that might have been impermissibly limited, the opinion ruled the law was too broad and violated the First Amendment by prohibiting speech despite serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value.

This is a setback for the puritans at the U.S. Justice Department and an important test of the Constitution's First Amendment free-speech protections as applied to the computer age.

Details at the NY Times and ABC.