Supreme Court Discussion Date for California Videogame Law

Oral arguments are to be put forward to members of the United States Supreme Court on November second 2010 regarding the law which would see videogames classed as obscene as pornography under Californian law.

The law, which was pushed to the Supreme Court under appeal after being knocked back by various state-level courts was drafted to prevent children from buying violent videogames by restricting sales, through classing them as “obscene material” and as restricting them at the same level as only pornography.

This isn’t the final decision, just the presentation of arguments in which two questions will be examined by the judges who will then, based on the various discussions, decide whether the law is constitutional or not. The two questions are:

1.  Does the First Amendment bar a state from restricting the sale of violent videogames to minors?

2.  If the First Amendment applies to violent videogames that are sold to minors, [...] is the state required to demonstrate a direct causal link between violent videogames and physical and psychological harm to minors before the state can prohibit the sale of the games to minors?

There’s still no deadline set as to when the court will make its final decision on the matter, but GamePoltics notes that it must be decided by at least June of next year, although some estimates have placed it before the end of the year.

There’s not much more to say about this that hasn’t already been said, so if you want more information check out some previous posts and if you live inside the US and don’t believe the law is right, sign the ECA’s petition.