In a decision that pitted anti-violence advocates against web content creators, the Supreme Court struck down a California law prohibiting the sale of violent video games to children under 18.

Cheering the decision were free expression advocates like the Future of Music Coalition (quoted below) and the National Alliance for Media Arts and Culture (NAMAC).

“Preserving free expression in music and the arts is crucial to American culture and our creative economy. Today’s decision affirms that musicians and other creators must be able to follow their artistic vision and contribute to our national discourse. In today’s technology-driven world, it is even more important that the speech of artists not be curtailed. Creators, particularly independents, depend on platforms like the internet to reach audiences, earn a living and enrich our culture.”

In a lengthy dissent, Justice Stephen Breyer invoked the inconsistencies between aggressive indecency/obscenity regulatory oversight and violence.

“What kind of First Amendment would permit the government to protect children by restricting sales of (an) extremely violent video game only when the woman – bound, gagged, tortured and killed – is also topless?” Breyer asked. The anomaly “disappears once one recognizes that extreme violence … without literary, artistic or similar justification” can be at least as harmful to minors as nude photos, he said.