United States v. Stevens

Responding to the rise of dogfighting and "crush" videos, Congress enacted 18 U.S.C. § 48, criminalizing the creation, sale, or possession of depictions in which a living animal is intentionally maimed, mutilated, tortured, wounded, or killed, without regulating the underlying conduct itself. Robert Stevens (defendant) sold videos of pit bulls fighting and attacking other animals and was convicted under the statute after his motion to dismiss (arguing the law violated the First Amendment) was denied; the district court had likened the depictions to obscenity or child pornography, categories unprotected by the First Amendment. The en banc court of appeals reversed and struck down § 48 as unconstitutional, and the Supreme Court granted certiorari.