Category: Legal

Supreme Court Strikes Down Overbroad Content Law in U.S. v. Stevens

By Alex Goldman

In a ruling on Tuesday, the Supreme Court voted 8-1 to strike down a 1999 federal law that criminalizes the possession or sale of “depictions of animal cruelty,” saying that the statute is overbroad and it violates the First Amendment. The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, who participated as a member of Media Coalition’s amicus group, welcomes this important ruling as an affirmation of the First Amendment’s guarantee to free speech.

Bone Prompts School Library Controversy

By Alex Goldman
Of all the comics out there, Jeff Smith’s self-published fantasy epic Bone, recipient of innumerable Harvey and Eisner awards is certainly not one you would think of as the subject of controversy. Yet it was last week when a Minnesota parent petitioned her school district to remove Bone comics from her son’s elementary school library.

Welcome To The New CBLDF.Org!

The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is a community of people who love comics and recognize the First Amendment as the cornerstone of the medium’s creative vitality. The new CBLDF.org is designed to reflect and serve that community, with frequently updated news about comics, free expression, and the people who are taking strides to keep both healthy and strong.

Will Japan Impose Bans on Explicit Manga?

In what could mark a cataclysmic change in the content of Manga both in Japan and in the United States, Tokyo’s Metropolitan Government is considering a change to Tokyo law that makes any visual representations of minors in sexual situations illegal.

Remembering Burton Joseph

Burton Joseph, pioneering First Amendment advocate and long serving legal counsel for Comic Book Legal Defense Fund died at his home in San Francisco on March 31 at the age of 79. The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is honored to salute Mr. Joseph with remembrances from his friends and colleagues.