Pornography producers have lost a bid to declare pornography laws unconstitutional. Judge Richard Leon, a federal judge in Washington, DC, has declined to dismiss an April 2008 case against pornography producer John Stagliano (and his company Evil Angel Productions, Inc.), who is accused of illegally trafficking hardcore pornography across state lines. Both producers claim that the federal laws criminalizing interstate trafficking of obscenity are unconstitutional, but Judge Leon concludes that the First Amendment does not protect obscene material in any way.
"The judge is saying what many judges before have said, and that is that it is constitutional for Congress and the states to outlaw the distribution of hardcore adult pornography," explains Pat Trueman, former chief of the U.S. Justice Department's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section. "And now if we could just get the Justice Department to vigorously en force those laws, you would see it substantially disappear in this country."(2/26)
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