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Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Courts - More on 9th Circuit strikes down California violent video game ban

Updating this ILB entry from Feb. 21st (which has a lot of Indiana-related background), Gloria Goodale, staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor, had this story May 20th. Some quotes:

Los Angeles - Lawmakers from California to Indiana have had violent video games in their sights for decades, but courts have struck down nearly a dozen laws aimed at restricting sales to minors. The US Supreme Court, though, has never entered the fray. That may change.

On Wednesday, California Attorney General Edmund "Jerry" Brown petitioned America's highest court to hear a video-game case concerning a 2005 state law that has been on hold since it was enacted, struck down by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals before it could go into effect. The law would ban sales to minors of mature-themed games and impose fines of up to $1,000 for violations.

"The state has a compelling interest in this issue," says state Sen. Leland Yee, the law's original sponsor. "It begs for a ruling by the high court in order to lay out some ground rules."

But the likelihood is small that the nine justices will take up the California petition, say many legal analysts, citing First Amendment issues about restrictions on free speech, particularly in the field of entertainment. * * *

Jurists such as federal appellate court Judge Richard Posner have declined to support such regulation. In 2001, the judge wrote for the panel that struck down an Indianapolis law against video-game violence: "To shield children right up to the age of 18 from exposure to violent descriptions and images would not only be quixotic, but deforming; it would leave them unequipped to cope with the world as we know it."

Pointing to the legal challenges inherent in such regulation, entertainment lawyer Ezra Doner has a simpler explanation for the filing.

"It's political grandstanding" by California's Jerry Brown, says the New York attorney. "It's a no-lose proposition for the attorney general. Who would say they don't want to keep children safe?"

Posted by Marcia Oddi on May 26, 2009 08:51 AM
Posted to Courts in general