|
|
"A comprehensive, collaborative elections resource."
|
Supreme Court overturns anti-animal cruelty law in First Amendment case
|
|---|
| Parent(s) |
Issue
|
| Contributor | Jason |
| Last Edited | Jason Apr 22, 2010 03:20am |
| Logged |
0
|
| Category | Legal Ruling |
| Author | Robert Barnes |
| Media | Newspaper - Washington Post |
| News Date | Wednesday, April 21, 2010 09:20:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | The Supreme Court on Tuesday forcefully struck down a federal law aimed at banning depictions of dog fighting and other violence against animals, saying it violated constitutional guarantees of free speech and created a "criminal prohibition of alarming breadth."
The 8 to 1 ruling, written by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., was a ringing endorsement of the First Amendment's protection of even distasteful expression. Roberts called "startling and dangerous" the government's argument that the value of certain categories of speech should be weighed against their societal costs when protecting free speech.
"The First Amendment itself reflects a judgment by the American people that the benefits of its restrictions on the government outweigh the costs," Roberts wrote. "Our Constitution forecloses any attempt to revise that judgment simply on the basis that some speech is not worth it."
The decision was the second major First Amendment ruling of the term, and far more unified than the first. In January, a divided court ruled in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission that corporations and unions have a right to use their general treasuries and profits to spend freely on political ads for and against specific candidates. |
| Share |
|
|
2¢
|
|
| Article | Read Full Article |
|
| Date |
Category |
Headline |
Article |
Contributor |
|
|
