The US Supreme Court yesterday overturned an eleven-year-old law banning videos that depicted animal cruelty , ruling that such a law violated free speech rights under the First Amendment to the US Constitution . The court's 8-1 ruling overturns a law enacted in 1999 that banned the trade of "depictions of animal cruelty," including "conduct in which a living animal is intentionally maimed, mutilated, tortured, wounded or killed." The case was prompted by the prosecution of Robert J. Stevens, who had filmed and sold videos of dogfights , and subsequently was sentenced in 2005 to 37 months in prison, although he has yet to begin his sentence; his case has remained on appeal. Reactions to the ruling were mixed. A group called the Media Coalition supported the ruling, saying that "If the court were to rewrite the First Amendment every time an unpopular or distasteful subject was at issue, we wouldn't have any free speech left." The US Humane Society called for a new law to be written by Congress, this one more narrow in scope. The society's president, Wayne Pacelle , said that "Congress should act swiftly to make sure the First Amendment is not used as a shield for those committing barbaric acts of cruelty, and then peddling their videos on the Internet."
The US Supreme Court yesterday overturned an eleven-year-old law banning videos that depicted , ruling that such a law violated free speech rights under the . The court's 8–1 ruling overturns a law enacted in 1999 that banned the trade of "depictions of animal cruelty," including "conduct in which a living animal is intentionally maimed, mutilated, tortured, wounded or killed." The case was prompted by the prosecution of Robert J. Stevens, who had filmed and sold videos of , and subsequently was sentenced in 2005 to 37 months in prison, although he has yet to begin his sentence; his case has remained on appeal. Reactions to the ruling were mixed. A group called the Media Coalition supported the ruling, saying that "If the court were to rewrite the First Amendment every time an unpopular or distasteful subject was at issue, we wouldn't have any free speech left." The called for a new law to be written by Congress, this one more narrow in scope. The society's president, , said that "Congress should act swiftly to make sure the First Amendment is not used as a shield for those committing barbaric acts of cruelty, and then peddling their videos on the Internet."
D
animal cruelty
D
First Amendment to the US Constitution
R
8-1
8–1
D
dogfights
D
US Humane Society
D
Wayne Pacelle