DGA praises court ruling
High Court strikes down federal porn law
The high court's 6-3 ruling was a setback for the U.S. Justice Dept., which defended the 1996 law, and an extension of First Amendment free-speech protections.
Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the court majority that the law was too broad and prohibited speech that contained serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value.
Kennedy said a number of movies, filmed with young adult actors and actresses who only looked like minors, explore themes that fall within the sweep of the law's prohibitions.
Martha Coolidge, prexy of the Directors Guild of America, lauded the ruling as correctly analyzing the law's restrictive impact on creative rights of filmmakers and other artists.
"We can all thank the Supreme Court for once again defending the First Amendment freedoms central to our free society and preserving the creative freedoms that all Americans treasure," she said.
"Our children must be protected from sexual exploitation, but the Supreme Court wisely recognized that this law criminalized artistic expression, rather than protecting children from any real attack," she continued. "From 'Romeo and Juliet' to 'American Beauty' and 'Traffic,' artists have told stories that included allusions of adolescent sexuality, stories which have enriched our lives."
(Reuters contributed to this report.)
