Supreme Court to hear video game regulation case

MSNBC.com reports that the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to determine whether California can ban the sale or rental of violent video games to minors.

California's law, which never took effect, having been challenged shortly after it was signed and blocked by the U.S. District Court over constitutional concerns, would have prohibited the sale or rental of violent games to anyone under 18. It also would have created strict labeling requirements for video game manufacturers. Retailers who violated the act would have been fined up to $1,000 for each violation."

Courts in other states have struck down similar laws, MSNBC said.

ScotusBlog ventured that "the Court had apparently been holding the case until it decided another First Amendment case involving violent expression — U.S. v. Stevens (08-769). In that ruling, issued last Tuesday, the Court struck down a federal law that banned the depiction in videotapes of animal cruelty, refusing to create a new exception to the First Amendment free speech right."

"California officials on appeal had urged the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to adopt a constitutional standard, created for use in cases involving protection of minors against obscene materials, that has never been used when the content was violent in nature, rather than obscene. The standard, derived from the Court’s 1968 decision in Ginsberg v. New York, allows states to pass laws barring minors' access to obscene materials if the law represents a reasonable judgment by the legislature that exposure to such materials will harm minors.

"The Ninth Circuit Court, though, in reviewing California's 2005 ban on sale or rental of violent video games to minors, refused to apply that standard, and, instead, used the most rigorous constitutional standard for judging laws that curb expression — strict scrutiny."

Petition for certiorari
Brief in opposition