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Law Restricting Sale or Rental of Violent Video Games Invalid
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has affirmed a California District Court summary judgment order invalidating California Civil Code Sections enacted in 2005 (the “Act”) that would have prohibited the selling or renting to minors of video games labeled as “violent”, and that would have imposed a requirement that any such video game imported into or distributed in California be labeled with an “18” on the front of its packaging.
In the recent opinion, the Court of Appeals stated that as a content-based restriction on speech, the Act was subject to strict scrutiny and held that it violated rights protected under the First Amendment. The State did not contest that video games are a form of expression protected by the First Amendment, though the opinion notes that the U.S. Supreme Court has not specifically commented on this.
The Court of Appeals found that the state had not established a causal link between minors playing violent video games and psychological or neurological harm, and therefore did not meet the burden of demonstrating a compelling interest. Furthermore, it held that the state had not tailored the Act’s restriction to its alleged compelling interest and that there existed less restrictive means of furthering that interest. Finally, the Court of Appeals held that the labeling requirement was unconstitutionally compelled speech under the First Amendment because it did not require the disclosure of purely factual information, but rather the subjective opinion of the state.
For a copy of the decision (Court of Appeals), visit:
http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2009/02/20/0716620.pdf