Supreme Court Upholds Anti-Child Porn Law
In a long-sought victory for those eager to stamp out child pornography on the Internet, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed 7-2 to uphold a federal law that creates penalties for promoting child pornography.
The court rejected concerns that the law could apply to mainstream movies, classic literature or innocent e-mail that describe pictures of grandchildren, the Associated Press reports.
In his opinion for the majority, Justice Antonin Scalia there is no “possibility that virtual child pornography or sex between youthful-looking adult actors might be covered by the term ‘simulated sexual intercourse.’ “
The U.S. v. Williams (PDF via SCOTUSblog) ruling upholds part of a 2003 law that bars child porn possession. That law replaced earlier attempts at legislation that the high court struck down.
Dissenting were Justices David Souter and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who were concerned about the law’s potential limits to First Amendment-protected expression.
