Over the last year, multiple video game bills have been introduced in state legislatures in the United States. Some of these have passed, only to be declared unconstitutional at the judicial level. However, things could be changing...
The most senior member of the United States Supreme Court sat down with prestia of Laws of Play and discussed various issues, one of which being whether or not video game laws were unconstitutional. Justice Scalia's answer? Maybe.
While the bulk of my time with Justice Scalia was focused on matters that are largely unrelated to video games, I did take this rare opportunity to ask the Justice his feelings concerning recent state video game legislation. In particular, I asked him whether as an originalist he believed that state laws banning the sale of mature-rated video games to minors ran afoul of the First Amendment.
In his most succinct reply of the day, Justice Scalia replied that he did believe such legislation was constitutional. He began by explaining his belief that sound constitutional precedent holds that minors may be subjected to prohibitions that adults are not–he instantly drew the parallel to regulation of pornography sales. However, Justice Scalia emphasized that unprotected speech, such as obscenity–which he was unwilling to define for reasons that are immediately evident to any constitutional scholar–can be prohibited from sale regardless of the purchaser’s age. I think the important thing to note here is that Justice Scalia did not suggest that violent and/or sexual content in games rises to the level of unprotected speech. In fact, he did not even suggest that video games themselves are not protected by the First Amendment despite his strict originalist beliefs.
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My mom wouldn't buy me porn, liquor, or cigarettes unless I was of legal age........why do parents buy games that for their kids when they aren't the "legal age"?
And no my mom never bought me porn, it was an example....LMAO
Then I guees it could be ok.
ANd if a kid uses a computer and goes on porn then the ISP should be fined.
are kittens and flowers.
ALso if a kid stays up late and watches a small ammount of violence on T.V then the show should be sued and fined, even though they had no way of knowing the kid was watching that show.
Sound fair right? Oh and they should stop the war in IRAQ, Its too violent and the soldiers may come back to their home country and kill their family because they saw someone fire a weapon.