The Supreme Court has struck down a California law that bans the sale and rental of violent video games to children. In a 7-2 vote, the justices ruled that the law was unconstitutional and that it violated the free speech rights of children.
Writing for the five member court majority, Justice Antonin Scalia said video games are like books, plays and movies, expression protected by the First Amendment and the government has no free floating power to restrict the ideas to which children may be exposed. California's ban on violent video games is just the latest in a long series of failed attempts to censor violent entertainment for minors, be it dime store novels, movies or even Superman comics, which in their time were portrayed as leading to juvenile delinquency. Joining him in the majority were Justices Kennedy, Ginsburg, Sotomayor and Kagan.
Justices Clarence Thomas and Stephen Breyer each dissented. Thomas said the framers of the Constitution did not envision any freedom of speech at all for minors, that indeed the founders believed that parents had absolute authority over their children.
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