Supreme Court Hears Dogfight Case

Several U.S. Supreme Court justices indicated that graphic videos a filmmaker produced of dog fights and other animal cruelty constitute free speech.

In 2005, the Virginia filmmaker, Robert Stevens, was sentenced to 37 months after a conviction for producing the violent videos, the Associated Press reports. However, a federal court of appeals overturned the decision, thereby finding the law unconstitutional.

Tuesday in court, the Obama administration asked justices to reinstate the Federal Depiction of Animal Cruelty law, requesting that the sale of videos depicting illegal cruelty to animals also become illegal.

Representative Elton Gallegly, a Republican from California, sponsored the legislation 1999 when it was passed by Congress. He commented on his website, "Animal cruelty is barbarism and desensitizes those who participate in it to the pain and suffering of others."

Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer indicated, however, that the statute might restrict free speech rights too broadly. He asked an administration lawyer, "Why not do a simpler thing? Ask Congress to write a statute that actually aims at the frightful things they were trying to prohibit."

In the initial 2005 ruling, Stevens was sentenced to three years in prison, which was 14 months longer than the term given to Michael Vick, the NFL player who actually staged dogfights.