Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I am pleased that the Senate will pass the Animal Crush Video Prohibition Act. In doing so, we have taken this important step toward banning obscene animal crush videos, and I thank Senators Kyl, Merkley and Burr for their leadership on this issue. We worked on a bipartisan basis to ensure that this legislation respects the first amendment and the role of our court system, while at the same time giving law enforcement a valuable and necessary tool to stop obscene animal cruelty. I urge the House to quickly adopt the legislation. Earlier this year, in United States v. Stevens, the Supreme Court struck down a Federal statute banning depictions of animal cruelty because it held the statute to be overbroad and in violation of the first amendment. Animal crush videos, which can depict obscene, extreme acts of animal cruelty, were a primary target of that legislation. Two months ago, in response to the Stevens decision, the House overwhelmingly passed a narrower bill banning animal crush videos on obscenity grounds. The Senate Judiciary Committee regularly looks at questions raised by Supreme Court decisions and the first amendment, and the House-passed bill was referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee for consideration. There are a few well-established exceptions to the first amendment. The United States has long prohibited the interstate sale of obscene materials, and the Supreme Court recognized this exception to the first amendment in 1957.…”