Tag: supreme court

Indian Supreme Court Strikes Down Internet Censorship Law

In late March, free speech scored a victory overseas when the Indian Supreme Court officials annulled Section 66A of the Information Technology (IT) Act, 2008, ensuring greater freedom of expression for Indian citizens in online communications. Section 66A not only…

ALA Report Shows Internet Filtering Curtails Free Speech

In a few days we will mark the 11th anniversary since the Supreme Court decided in United States v. American Library Association that filtering of Internet access on school and library computers does not infringe on free speech rights. The…

Victory for Students in “Boobies” Case!

Free expression rights for public school students were resoundingly reaffirmed today, as the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a Pennsylvania school district’s argument that it could prohibit students from wearing breast cancer awareness bracelets that read “I ♥ boobies!”…

“Boobies” Case May Clarify Student Speech Rights

Sometime in the next few weeks, the U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether to hear a case that has the potential to greatly clarify the free speech rights of students in public schools. While that is of course a very…

Comic Book Legal Defense Fund Urges Supreme Court to Reject New Restrictions on Speech in Video Game Censorship Case


Comic Book Legal Defense Fund today filed a friend-of-the-court brief in Schwarzenegger v. EMA, urging the Supreme Court to affirm the Ninth Circuit’s decision that a California law banning the sale or rental of any video game containing violent content to minors, and requiring manufacturers to label such games, is unconstitutional.

The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund submits that, if allowed to stand, California’s law would reverse fundamental First Amendment principles by creating a new category of unprotected speech, diminishing the First Amendment rights of minors, and reducing First Amendment protection for new media. The CBLDF argues that the law under review is the most recent example of government improperly attempting to regulate content by using junk science, and calls upon a history of moral panics against media that includes the 1950s crusades against comics that crippled the industry and harmed the art form. The CBLDF asks the Supreme Court to deny California this attempt to roll back protections guaranteed by the First Amendment, as it and other courts have correctly done in the past.

Read on for the full release, and brief.

News Media Responds to EMA v. Schwarzenegger

by Amy Long
for The Media Coalition

Over 100 newspapers, websites, and blogs reported on the Supreme Court’s decision to grant California’s petition for certiorari in EMA v. Schwarzenegger. Papers across the United States, Canada and Britain carried the news, which reached as far as New Zealand’s Top News, the Ethiopian Review and Thailand’s The Thaindian paper, which takes a view that is generally supportive of the state’s position (though it notes that Schwarzenegger “seemed a tad too pleased with the court’s decision”). The case will be taken up by the Court in its fall term. Full coverage after the jump.

Supreme Court to Decide Whether States Can Regulate Violent Video Games

On Monday, the Supreme Court agreed to review a ruling that the First Amendment bars restrictions on video games with violent themes. The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund has actively opposed such restrictions, including participating in a 2008 friend-of-the-court (aka amicus) brief filed by the Media Coalition, addressing this same case. In hearing this case, the Supreme Court will decide whether or not it will adopt a new constitutional standard that allows states to ban violent content.

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.