A Concurrent Resolution, drafted by MIM attorneys and expressing the sense of the 108th Congress “that the Federal obscenity laws should be vigorously enforced throughout the United States,” is expected to be introduced soon in both the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives.
The text (see below) is the same as the text of House Concurrent Resolution 445, introduced last
summer in the 107th Congress with 17 original co-sponsors. Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), who was chairman of the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Crime in the 107th Congress, introduced the earlier H. Con. Res. 445 and will introduce the new resolution.
Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Alabama), a former U.S. Attorney who prosecuted obscenity cases, will introduce the same Concurrent Resolution in the Senate. In March, Senator Sessions was also able to add the following language in the Senate budget bill for fiscal year 2004.
“It is the sense of the Senate that of the funds appropriated in Function 750 of the Budget Resolution for the Department of Justice, there will be provided adequate funding in the relevant appropriating committee in Fiscal Year 2004 for the purpose of vigorously enforcing the Federal obscenity laws throughout the United States.”
Expressing the sense of Congress supporting vigorous enforcement of the Federal obscenity laws.
Whereas the Supreme Court in Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15 (1973) held that obscene material is `unprotected by the first amendment' (413 U.S. at 23) and that obscenity laws can be enforced against `hard core' pornography' (413 U.S. at 28);
Whereas the Miller Court stated that `to equate the free and robust exchange of ideas and political debate with commercial exploitation of obscene material demeans the grand conception of the first amendment and its high purposes in the historic struggle for freedom.' (413 U.S. at 34);
Whereas the Supreme Court in Paris Adult Theatre I v. Slaton, 413 U.S. 49 (1973) recognized that there are legitimate governmental interests at stake in stemming the tide of obscene materials, which include--
(1) protecting `the quality of life and total community environment' (413 U.S. at 58);
(2) protecting `public safety' (413 U.S. at 58);
(3) maintaining `a decent society' (413 U.S. at 59-60);
(4) protecting `the social interest in order and morality' (413 U.S. at 61); and
(5) protecting `family life' (413 U.S. at 63);
Whereas Congress, in an effort to protect these same legitimate governmental interests, enacted legislation in 1988 to strengthen federal obscenity laws and in 1996 to clarify that use of an interactive computer service to transport obscene materials in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce is prohibited;
Whereas the 1986 Final Report of the Attorney General's Commission on Pornography found that `increasingly, the most prevalent forms of pornography' fit the description of `sexually violent material' (p. 323) and that `an enormous amount of the most sexually explicit material available' can be categorized as `degrading' to people, `most often women' (p. 331);
Whereas the Internet has become a conduit for hardcore pornography that now reaches directly into tens of millions of American homes, where even small children can be exposed to Internet obscenity and older children can easily find it;
Whereas a national opinion poll conducted in March 2002 by Wirthlin Worldwide marketing research company found that 81 percent of adult Americans say that `Federal laws against Internet obscenity should be vigorously enforced';
Whereas a May 2 report from the National Academies' National Research Council stated that `aggressive enforcement of existing antiobscenity laws can help reduce children's access to certain kinds of sexually explicit material on the Internet';
Whereas on April 16, 2002, the United States Supreme Court in Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition invalidated a Federal law aimed at `virtual child pornography';
Whereas vigorous enforcement of obscenity laws can help reduce the amount of `virtual child pornography' now readily available to sexual predators; and
Whereas it continues to be the desire of the People of the United States of America and their representatives in Congress to recognize and protect the governmental interests recognized as legitimate by the United States Supreme Court in Paris Adult Theatre I v. Slaton, 413 U.S. 49 (1973): Now, therefore be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That it is the sense of Congress that the Federal obscenity laws should be vigorously enforced throughout the United States.