The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that 2257 is Unconstitutional. For those unfamiliar, 2257 is the set of record keeping and other rules that have been placed upon producers of adult entertainment material that limits to a large scope what can be produced or how it is distributed or how records are kept. The rules were slipped into the language of the Adam Walsh Child Obscenity Act ostensibly to protect children but in fact have very very little to do with stopping child pornography, children’s access to adult entertainment or any of the things it was supposedly setup to protect but instead have been used as an excused to limit legitimate adult entertainment. In fact, there are far more direct and effective child protection measures in place, many of which have long been endorsed by the legitimate adult entertainment industry. The 2257 “solution” from the get-go has been about “saving the hens from the fox by shooting the donkey” sort of a solution, one thing does not lead to the other. This whole thing has been an issue tainted with the pushing of limited and specific politico-moral agendae from the beginning rather than one based upon sound legal or even logical argument.

The Free Speech Coalition’s webpage on 2257 can be found here.

The current ruling will likely not be the end of the matter as the 6th circuit court has a limited scope of practice (as do all circuit courts) but the unconstitutionality argument was very strong and the judges on the panel are considered very bright and reasoned individuals.

Please do NOT get me wrong . . . while I am very much against 2257, it does not follow that I am for child pornography or worse (I support very heavy penalties for such things) . . . nor does it mean that I do not believe the adult entertainment industry should not have any oversite (it should, just as any industry does but no more than do other industries) . . . 2257 has nothing to do with protecting children and everything to do with controlling and severely limiting the legitimate production of adult entertainment by consenting adults for consenting adults.

All the best,
Brian