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Extremely Protected
The obscenity case against the pornmakers Extreme Associates, which Greg Beato covered in Reason last year, hit a snag Friday when a federal judge dismissed the charges.
From the Philadelphia Inquirer's account:
Because people have a right to view such material in the privacy of their own home, there's a right to market it, U.S. District Court Judge Gary L. Lancaster said in dismissing the case against Robert Zicari and Janet Romano, both of Northridge, Calif., and their company, Extreme Associates.
Lancaster said prosecutors overstepped their bounds while trying to block the material from children and from adults who didn't want to see such material inadvertently.
The judge also found that the state cannot ban material simply because it finds it objectionable, based on the U.S. Supreme Court's June 2003 ruling that struck down a state ban on gay sex....
In a written statement, U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan said prosecutors were "very disappointed" and were reviewing the case and examining options, including a possible appeal.
bOING bOING has a roundup of links here.
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|1.24.05 @ 11:19AM|#
The most obscene part of this fiasco is the cost to the taxpayers and the cost to Extreme Associates to fight it, only for it to be thrown at, as it should have been when charges were first filed. We are so caught between the looney left and the retarded right.
|1.24.05 @ 11:24AM|#
Wait, wait, wait...you mean that the State can't just wontonly ban whatever it doesn't like? Coulda fooled me. Isn't that the entire premise of the war on drugs?
|1.24.05 @ 11:51AM|#
The judge also found that the state cannot ban material simply because it finds it objectionable, based on the U.S. Supreme Court's June 2003 ruling that struck down a state ban on gay sex....
Wait a minute. They banned gay sex? That is the funniest thing I think I've heard in years.
They banned gay sex? "Hey you! Stop that this instant! That is BANNED!"
I can't stop laughing.
|1.24.05 @ 2:34PM|#
it's funnier now that most of the punatives have been removed. less funny when followed in some countries with building demolition, etc.
digamma|1.24.05 @ 3:51PM|#
I think DHS should be cracking down on organizations developing "Weapons of Ass Destruction".