Free
Speech Coalition Press Release
NEW
SENATE HEARING ON OBSCENITY:
ANOTHER ATTEMPT TO SANDBAG THE ADULT INDUSTRY?
CHATSWORTH,
CA - Thanks to extraordinary efforts by legislative experts for
the Free Speech Coalition, the adult industry trade association,
another effort to load the Congressional Record with unrebutted
claims about Americans' sexual speech rights has been uncovered.
The
Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Constitution, Civil
Rights, and Property Rights will hold a hearing on Wednesday,
February 16, 2005, at 2:30 p.m. in Room 226 of the Senate Dirksen
Office Building on "Obscenity Prosecution of the First Amendment."
Sen. Sam Brownback will preside.
Once
again, the adult entertainment industry – the clear target
of the hearing – was neither invited nor notified of the hearing,
and attempts to provide witnesses friendly to the adult industry
were rebuffed by subcommittee officials.
The
subcommittee will hear invited constitutional experts address
the implications of the decision in US v. Extreme Associates from
the Western District of Pennsylvania. The decision, announced
on January 21, was a victory for free speech rights, but according
to Sens. Brownback and Orrin Hatch, in their Washington Times
Op-Ed column of February 10th, it was “a Frankenstein’s monster
of judicial activism.”
“These
two veteran senators deliver sermons about 'judicial activism',"
wrote Adult Video News Senior Editor Mark Kernes in his letter
of comment on the Times column, “because they can’t argue the
legal facts that led US District Court Judge Gary Lancaster to
a complete and reasonable assessment of the law.” Free Speech
Coalition has submitted objective and professional written testimony
from prominent, knowledgeable and seasoned First Amendment attorneys
to be included in the subcommittee's record, in order that the
US Senate be made aware of all sides of this very important issue.
The
Holistic Wisdom Corporation