Blogging About Critters Since 2007

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Supreme Court Strikes Down Depiction of Animal Cruelty Act

The Supreme Court struck down a law that outlawed the depiction of animal cruelty.
The high court case stemmed from the arrest and conviction of a Virginia-based documentary producer named Robert Stevens who sold videos containing scenes of dogfights. Mr. Stevens said his videos were aimed at portraying the aggressive characteristics of pit bulls and the use of pit bulls in hunting. He argued that his documentaries were protected by the First Amendment.

A federal judge disagreed and a jury convicted him of selling banned depictions of dog fights in violation of the 1999 law. He was sentenced to three years in prison.

A federal appeals court overturned the conviction by declaring the underlying law unconstitutional. On Tuesday, the US Supreme Court also declared the law unconstitutional, but on different legal grounds.

2 comments:

Rose said...

I'm so depressed and sickened by this...why are these types of videos/photos/whatever not considered as bad as child pornography?...

and the people who watch them have to be as horrible as the people who make/sell them...total sickos and monsters!!! They should all be in jail and thrown away the key.

I wouldn't want to be anywhere near a monster like that...yet their sick cruel behavior and fetishes are protected...no wonder this society is so violent...who could be surprised by that when behaviour like this are condoned?

Ana said...

I was shocked that conservative Judge Samuel Alito was the sole dissenting opinion. He actually referenced "crush" videos too. The "liberals" all voted for it.

Hopefully, Congress will pass a more targeted law that will ban such sick behavior.

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