US Supreme Court - First Amendment

Various news outlets have articles on the recent Supreme Court decision US vs Stevens (2010) which overturned a law which made videos of cruelty to animals illegal. The rationale for this is the First Amendment guarantees free speech (eg the videos) even if that speech is distasteful. In this case, cruelty to animals is illegal, but the depiction of that no longer is.

For different views on this case with different emphasis, see the right-leaning Fox News the centrist Washington Post and the left-leaning Huffington Post.

The main difference is the emphasis on the First Amendment and it's importance. HP's take is that the First Amendment prevents this law from banning distasteful images (thanks to what it calls "hypothetical argument"), while Fox News emphasises the victory of the first Amendment:

....the benefits of its restrictions on the Government outweigh the costs.

Worth saving that one. Good for any essay on the Supreme Court and the overturning of government law (although it is likely that the US government will come up with a more specific, and better-written law). For a recent example of what the various branches of the government does next see my earlier post on Kelo vs New London.

See Wikipedia's Supreme Court entry (paragraph 11& 12) for a handy cut-out-and-keep guide to recent US Supreme Court Cases and what areas they cover. It's worth quoting paragraph 12 in full, although paragraph 11 on the Rehnquist court is useful too:

The Roberts Court (2005–present) began with the confirmation and swearing in of Chief Justice John G. Roberts on September 29, 2005, and is the current presiding court. The Roberts Court is seen as more conservative than the previous court. Some of the major rulings so far have been in the areas of abortion (Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood, Gonzales v. Carhart); anti-trust legislation (Leegin Creative Leather Products, Inc. v. PSKS, Inc.); the death penalty (Baze v. Rees, Kennedy v. Louisiana); the Fourth Amendment (Hudson v. Michigan); free speech of government employees and of high school students (Garcetti v. Ceballos, Morse v. Frederick); military detainees (Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, Boumediene v. Bush); school desegregation (Parents v. Seattle); voting rights (Crawford v. Marion County Election Board); the Second Amendment (District of Columbia v. Heller), and campaign finance (Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission).