Is Gross Speech Free Speech?
How Appealing carries the story of an interesting First Amendment case soon to be heard at the U.S. Supreme Court: are "crush videos," in which small animals are maimed and killed, a form of speech protected by the First Amendment?
This probably isn't exactly what the Court had in mind when it crafted the Miller test, but it wouldn't be hard to imagine the Court -- especially this Court, which hasn't done the First Amendment any favors lately -- taking a New York v. Ferber-ish approach in which it finds the films unprotected because the production thereof amounts to illegal activity and, therefore, the consumption thereof fuels that illegal activity. But we'll see.




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