• The ruling struck down a law barring the distribution of animal cruelty videos. Today’s Supreme Court decision may be the strongest across-the-board decision they’ve made in a while, finding in favor of documentary producer Robert Stevens, who sold dogfighting videos that violated a 1999 law (and was jailed for the practice). In this case, free speech won, but by the way everyone’s talking, you’d think both sides won:

• Free-speech fans A lawyer for the Cato Institute, which filed a brief in the case, said it was a win for free speech, no matter what kind: “The government’s effort to remove any area of public expression from the First Amendment’s protection would have been highly troubling.”
• Animal Cruelty fighters The U.S. Humane Society saw silver lining in the court’s 8-1 decision: “The Supreme Court’s decision gives us a clear pathway to enact a narrower ban on the sale of videos depicting malicious acts of cruelty, including animal crush videos and dogfighting.” source

Posted by Ernie Smith • Permalink