"Anyone with an ounce of decency should be tempted to ban animal-abuse videos," said The New York Times in an editorial, "but anyone with an appreciation for the First Amendment understands why we cannot." The Supreme Court should keep that in mind Tuesday as it hears arguments in the case of Robert Stevens, whose business, "Dogs of Velvet and Steel," sold videos of pit bulls fighting, and attacking other animals. Even "deeply offensive" expression is protected by the Constitution.
The 1999 federal law under which Stevens was prosecuted "is not only constitutional," said the Humane Society of the United States in Opposing Views, but it's "urgently needed to stop the abuse of animals." Videos of women in stiletto heels crushing or burning small animals—"like obscenity and child abuse—play no part in the expression of ideas." So there's nothing unconstitutional about regulating or banning them, the way we do child pornography.
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