Scalia Questions Whether Video Game Law Would Reach Grimm’s Fairy Tales
At least three justices appeared to side with California on Tuesday in its effort to ban the sale and rental of violent video games to minors under precedent that allows restrictions on the sale of sexual materials to children.
The three justices who appeared most sympathetic to California were Samuel A. Alito Jr., Stephen G. Breyer and Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., the New York Times reports. Most justices, however, “appeared to have big reservations about California’s law,” the Washington Post reports.
The law never took effect after it was blocked by lower courts. It imposes fines for sales of violent games to minors that are patently offensive, that appeal to deviant or morbid interests, and that lack serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value. The law defines violent games as those containing depictions of “killing, maiming, dismembering or sexually assaulting an image of a human being.” Vulcans, however, could be tortured or maimed with impunity, according to the lawyer who represented California, Zackery Morazzini.
Scalia took issue with the reach of the law, the National Law Journal reports. “What’s a deviant violent video game, as opposed to a normal violent video game?” he asked. “Some of Grimm’s fairy tales are pretty violent. Are you trying to ban them too?”
