You might not like it, I might not like it, but the Constitution’s free speech protections were devised to keep us from banning stuff just because we don’t like it. That’s why bills up for consideration by the Texas House that would criminalize non-consensual distribution of pornography likely run afoul of the First Amendment. As Grits For Breakfast notes:
[Houston attorney Mark Bennett] successfully convinced the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals – hardly a bunch of libertines – to vote 9-0 to invalidateTexas’ online solicitation of a minor statute. So it’d be wise for legislators to consider Bennett’s counsel. If they don’t, he may well be the guy knocking the law down on the back end.
With statutes regarding online solicitation of a minor and improper photography recently struck down by Texas courts over First Amendment problems, it’s clear there’s a tension over legislators’ desire to limit lewd pictures and dirty talk to a greater extent than the Constitution allows. If Bennett’s right – and his recent track record on these subjects has been excellent – these bills are unlikely to survive First Amendment scrutiny by the courts.
This is an ounce of prevention vs a pound of cure situation. It’d be a lot simpler to kill the legislation in committee than to make Bennett or some other criminal defense lawyer fight in court for years post hoc to reach the same result.
