Anti-porn ruling lauded

Brad Dacus with the Pacific Justice Institute says Monday's ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that upheld criminal penalties for promoting child pornography is solid.

In yesterday's 7-2 decision, the high court brushed aside concerns that the law could apply to mainstream movies, classic literature, or innocent emails that describe photos of grandchildren. The decision upholds part of a 2003 law that prohibits possession of child porn. It replaced an earlier law against child pornography that the court struck down as unconstitutional.
 
Brad Dacus is president of the Pacific Justice Institute, a Christian legal defense firm based in California. He says the ruling not only protects children, but also helps law enforcement.
 
"This Supreme Court is going to give great deference to efforts to protect children from pornography and [from] being victims of pornography," the attorney explains. "So this is going to be very helpful to law enforcement across the country." Dacus believes the court's decision will give law enforcement the kind of confidence it should have to move aggressively against individuals who in any way are engaging in either promoting or possessing child pornography.
 
He also feels the Supreme Court justices should be applauded for protecting children from sex predators -- which he feels will be a plus resulting from the ruling's broad reach.
 
"It ... is going to have a watershed effect, I believe, with regard to efforts to protect children in terms of public libraries," he shares. "It'll not only make it more difficult for pedophiles to obtain this kind of material, hopefully, but also it will inspire libraries to take more protective measures, knowing that this Supreme Court will more likely give deference to their efforts to protect kids from the Internet pornography and things like that."
 
Writing for the majority, Associate Justice Antonin Scalia said the government can criminalize the mere possession of actual child pornography. Dissenting were Associate Justices David Souter and Ruth Bader Gisberg.