Thank you for signing this petition. Your electronic signature will be included along with the following letter to express our deepest concerns regarding this issue. Your information will not be shared or given to anyone other than the intended recipients of this petition.

Dear Senate Majority Leader Reid and Senate Minority Leader McConnell:

The U.S. Justice Department and FBI are to be commended for their efforts to curb sexual exploitation of children and sexual trafficking in women and children. For the most part, however, these same federal agencies have turned a blind eye towards the ruinous proliferation of illegal hardcore adult pornography (obscenity) online and elsewhere, which is contributing to sexual exploitation of children and sexual trafficking. Exposure to obscene materials is also harming children morally and psychologically; and addiction to obscene materials is contributing to the breakup of marriages; to sexual assaults against women, to a decline in worker productivity. Addiction among military personnel is also affecting military preparedness.

The Supreme Court has held repeatedly that the First Amendment does not protect obscene materials, and in 1996 Congress amended two federal obscenity laws to clarify that distribution of obscene materials on the Internet is prohibited. In 2003, the Senate also passed Concurrent Resolution 77 expressing the sense of Congress that “the Federal obscenity laws should be vigorously enforced throughout the United States.”

The Attorney General, FBI Director and U.S. Attorneys were all confirmed by the Senate. Please work together to ensure that these individuals take obscenity crimes seriously and enforce obscenity laws vigorously and throughout the United States!