1st Amendment Protections for Child Pornography: The 2002 Decision in the Case of Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition.

Laws have been passed outlawing child pornography in its various formats. It is forbidden by law to use a minor younger than age eighteen for visual depictions of sexually explicit acts. Possessions of such photographs are forbidden, and in 1966 the Child Pornography Prevention Act (CPPA) forbade trafficking in visual productions of adults who represented children engaged in sexually explicit acts. The problem was that, according to the First Amendment, adults are offered rights of free speech, of which sexual freedom is a category. In 2002, therefore, the Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition convened to condemn the CPPA's clauses "conveys the impression [that the adult is a minor]" and "[the adult] appears to be a minor" stating that they were unconstitutional and overbroad in their generalizations. This essay will discuss the case...
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