Professor Brownstein Publishes Op-ed on Supreme Court Video Game Ruling

Professor Alan Brownstein has published an op-ed in the Sacramento Bee on the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down a California law banning the sale or rental of violent video games to minors. 

While "the age prohibition in California's law was simply too high," the ruling in Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association was too broad, holding that "with the exception of sexually graphic materials, children have pretty much the same free speech rights as adults," Brownstein writes. 

"I do not suggest that determining the free speech rights of children and the rights of adults who target child audiences is a simple issue for the courts to resolve," states Brownstein. "Age matters, and there is a continuum of rights that increases along with the child's maturity and experience. Courts will confront difficult questions about what falls within the scope of legislative discretion. While we may avoid those hard questions by providing children the same free speech rights as adults, I fear that we will pay a serious price by doing so."

Professor Brownstein, a nationally recognized Constitutional Law scholar, teaches Constitutional Law, Law and Religion, and Torts at UC Davis School of Law, where he holds the Boochever and Bird Endowed Chair for the Study and Teaching of Freedom and Equality.

Brownstein op-ed: "Court's ruling on video games should have factored in maturity"