If you’re a pet lover and feel very strongly about animal rights—this news will make you cringe.
According to THR., Esq., the Supreme Court ruled 8-1 to invalidate a law that criminalized Internet sales of videos that show explicit violence against animals. The judgment overturned the conviction of a man sentenced to three years in prison for videos he made about pit bull fights.
Here’s the background. A law was passed in 1999 to limit Internet sales of “crush videos”, which appeal to a certain sexual fetish by showing women crushing to death small animals with their bare feet or high-heeled shoes.
Scary thought….
The government sought a ruling that treated videos showing animal cruelty like child pornography, i.e. not entitled to constitutional protection. The videos virtually disappeared once the 1999 measure became law, the government argued.
However, Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the majority, said the law goes too far, suggesting that a measure limited to crush videos might be valid. Animal cruelty and dog fighting already are illegal throughout the country.
Dissenting, Justice Samuel Alito said the harm animals suffer in dogfights is enough to sustain the law, and that the ruling probably will spur new crush videos because it has “the practical effect of legalizing the sale of such videos.”
But Roberts said the law could be read to allow the prosecution of the producers of films about hunting. And he mocked the administration’s assurances that it would only apply the law to depictions of extreme cruelty. “But the First Amendment protects against the government,” Roberts said. “We would not uphold an unconstitutional statute merely because the government promised to use it responsibly.”
The way things are looking now, let’s just hope Scruffy is smart enough to chew up all the high-heel shoes in the closet.
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