Should Depiction of Animal-Related Crimes Be Unconstitutional?

Eugene Volokh, of The Volokh Conspiracy, has just uploaded the amicus brief he and two other lawyers wrote on behalf of the National Coalition Against Censorship and the College Art Association. The case is U.S. v. Stevens, where the U.S. Supreme Court will consider whether to create a new exception to the First Amendment’s free speech clause, allowing the government to make it a crime to sell videotapes or other depictions of animal cruelty.

You can read the amicus (pdf version) here. The reader may want to take a close look at page 11, where the amicus focuses on “avant-garde and conceptual art,” drawing on Duchamp, Herman Nitsch, and Wim Delvoye’s tattooed pigs.

Tags: animal cruelty, animals, depiction of animals, Free Speech