Free Speech vs Animal Crush Videos: Supreme Court to Decide
A law against selling videos of animal cruelty was overturned last year in favor of Robert J. Stevens and his dog-fight video business. Steep increases in the number of available “crush videos” where small animals are crushed to appease a sexual fetish have prompted a request to the Supreme Court to make this unspeakable act illegal again.
The 1999 law signed by President Clinton made it unlawful to sell “crush videos” and nearly all depictions of animal cruelty. Stevens and his lawyers utilized the First Amendment to convince the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia to reverse his 37-month conviction and strike down the law altogether. The United States solicitor general has asked Supreme Court hear the case soon.
