Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association
What's at Stake
Whether a California law prohibiting the sale of "violent video games" to minors violates the First Amendment.
Summary
California has enacted a law banning the sale of "violent video games" to minors. Like every other similar law around the nation, it was struck down as unconstitutional by a federal appeals court. In an amicus brief supporting that decision, the ACLU argues that the statute is pointless if it does not reach on-line sales and game playing, and overbroad if it does since the statutory prohibition would then effectively apply to adults as well as children. In addition, the ACLU brief argues that the statute's attempt to define "violent video games" by analogy to obscenity is vague, unenforceable, and unconstitutional.
Legal Documents
-
09/23/2010
Schwarzenegger v. Entertainment Merchants Association - ACLU Amicus Brief
Date Filed: 09/23/2010