U.S. asks justices to okay child porn law

Juvenile Justice Digest, Nov 16, 2001

IN THE COURTS

The Supreme Court questioned whether upholding the Child Pornography Prevention Act would have a chilling effect on popular culture that might exceed the intent of Congress.

In hearing arguments from the Justice Department in support of the law and attorneys for the Free Speech Coalition of California against, the justices implied explicit sex scenes involving children in movies could probably be omitted without damage to artistic intent.

Congress wrote the law in 1996 to strike at child pornographers whether they were using real or simulated images of children. Various circuits have handed down conflicting opinions.

The Justice Department in Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition, 00795, asked the Supreme Court for clarity.

"Congress regarded the material covered by the CPPA as a tool of the crime of child abuse much like burglars' tools are instruments of the crime of burglary," Solicitor General Theodore Olson wrote in legal filings with the court.

Thirty-six states and territories joined the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and 18 members of Congress in filing friend-of-the-court briefs supporting the government.