On June 28, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled, in the case of Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association, that a California law prohibiting the sale of violent video games to children was unconstitutional. The justices found, in a 7 to 2 decision, that video games—even those involving, according to the California statute, “killing, maiming, dismembering or sexually assaulting an image of a human being . . . [in ways] patently offensive to prevailing community standards”—are art. As such, they are First Amendment-protected free speech. The majority found that the games’ speech about violence does not qualify as obscenity, meaning the state cannot regulate such content in the same way that it regulates sexually explicit material.
The Supreme Court’s decision met varied reactions in the court of public opinion. Civil rights advocates generally approved, as did the multibillion dollar video game industry. A statement from the Entertainment Software Association declared, “The First Amendment is alive and well . . . . [C]reative expression will continue to flourish free of censorship and . . . consumers will retain the right to choose their own entertainment.” For its part, California claimed the law fell within a legitimate, compelling interest in protecting minors. California state senator Leland Yee lamented that the Court had “put the interests of corporate America before the interests of our children.” Many parents and educators also expressed dismay and frustration with the decision.
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