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Constitutional Law Keyed to Maggs
United States v. Stevens
Citation:
559 U.S. 460 (2010)Facts
Congress enacted a statute, which establishes criminal penalty for those who knowingly “creates, sells, or possesses a depiction of animal cruelty” if done “for commercial gain.” The statute defines animal cruelty in which a living animal is intentionally disabled, tortured or killed. The law exempts any depiction that has scientific, educational or artistic value. Congress passed this law to restrict “crush videos” that feature the intentional torture and killing of animals and depict obscene scenes vividly. The respondent was indicted because he was running a business that sold videos of dogs that depicted the use of pit bulls to hunt wild boar, as well as a gruesome scene of a pit bull attacking a domestic farm pig.
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