The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF) applauds the Supreme Court decision to affirm the First Amendment rights of creators, readers and retailers by denying states the ability to create new restrictions on violent content in Brown v. EMA.  In a 7-2 decision, the high court struck down a California law that would have banned the sale and rental of violent video games to minors, and would have made violence a new category of unprotected speech.

The CBLDF was active in opposing the law, and filed its own amicus brief arguing that the California law was unconstitutional by citing a history of moral panics, most notably the anti-comics fervor that nearly dismantled the comics industry in the 1950s. The arguments presented in CBLDF’s brief were part of the discussion in oral arguments, and cited in the Court's majority decision.

“We’re extremely pleased that the Court’s decision preserves the First Amendment rights of the users and creators of video games, and that they resisted California’s desire to establish new categories of unprotected speech,” said CBLDF Executive Director Charles Brownstein. “We’re also gratified that our discussion of the comics industry’s painful experience with moral panic and legislative meddling helped inform the positive outcome we see this morning.”

CBLDF legal counsel Robert Corn-Revere of Davis Wright Tremaine wrote the brief.  He added, "The Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. EMA applied well-established First Amendment principles to find the California law is unconstitutional.  In reaching his conclusion, Justice Scalia's majority opinion noted the crusade against comics led by Dr. Frederic Wertham and observed that it was inconsistent with our constitutional traditions.  It traced the long history of censorship involving media the government claimed 'corrupted youth -- from movies to comic books -- and held that such crusades cannot be reconciled with the First Amendment."

The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund was founded in 1986 as a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation of First Amendment rights for members of the comics community. They have defended dozens of Free Expression cases in courts across the United States, and led important education initiatives promoting comics literacy and free expression. 

About the Author

John Gaudiosi

Editor-in-Chief

John Gaudiosi has been covering videogames for the past 20 years for outlets like The Washington Post, CNET, Wired Magazine and CBS.com. He has focused on the convergence of entertainment and videogames for outlets like Video Business, Home Media Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, The Hollywood Reporter and Variety. He currently serves as Editor-in-Chief of Gamerlive.TV and is also a freelance game columnist for Reuters and writes for outlets like Forbes.com, NVISION, Official PlayStation Magazine, EGM Now, Geek Monthly, PrimaGames.com, and Yahoo! Games. John also serves as the video game expert for NBC in Washington D.C. and has produced videogame documentaries for The History Channel and Starz Entertainment. John was named one of the Top 50 Game Journalists in the world by Next-Gen.biz in 2007. He is the co-author of Scholastic Books' How to Get into Videogames, Prima Publishing's Madden: Twenty Years of Videogame Football and Electronic Arts: The Official History.