------ Forwarded Message From: Jim Warren <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2005 09:02:22 -0800 To: "<Dave Farber:;>" Subject: fwd: Supreme Court no comment on "Use a sex toy; go to jail!" law
MORE evidence that too many of the Supremes are now geriatric? --jim >http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=757&e=1&u=/nm/20050222/od_nm/c ourt_sextoys_dc > >Court Rejects Appeal on Sex Toy Sales Ban > >WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court (news - web sites) rejected >on Tuesday a constitutional challenge to an Alabama law that makes it a >crime to sell sex toys. > > The high court refused to hear an appeal by a group of individuals who >regularly use sexual devices and by two vendors who argued the case raised >important issues about the scope of the constitutional right to sexual >privacy. > > The law prohibited the distribution of "any device designed or marketed as >useful primarily for the stimulation of human genital organs." First-time >violators can face a fine of up to $10,000 and as much as one year in jail. > > The law, adopted in 1998, allowed the sale of ordinary vibrators and body >massagers that are not designed or marketed primarily as sexual aids. It >exempted sales of sexual devices "for a bona fide medical, scientific, >educational, legislative, judicial or law enforcement purpose." > > Georgia and Texas are the only other states that restrict the distribution >of sexual devices, according to the court record in the case. > > Attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union (news - web sites), >representing those who challenged the law, argued that private, consensual >sexual conduct among adults is constitutionally protected and beyond the >reach of government regulation. > > They said the Supreme Court's decision in 2003 striking down a Texas sodomy >law also created a fundamental, constitutional due process right to sexual >privacy. > > "The evidence shows that this case is not about novelty items, naughty toys >or obscene matter. It is a case about human sexuality and extremely intimate >acts," the attorneys said. > > They said Alabama has never explained "why sales of performance enhancing >drugs like Viagra, Cialis and Levitra and even ribbed condoms are not >similarly prohibited." > > The attorneys said the state did not contest the evidence that about 20 >percent of all American women use a vibrator and at least 10 percent of >sexually active adults use vibrators in their regular sex life. > > A federal judge ruled against the state and found a constitutional "right >to use sexual devices like ... vibrators, dildos, anal beads and artificial >vaginas." > > But a U.S. appeals court based in Atlanta upheld the law by a 2-1 vote. > > The appeals court said it agreed with Alabama that the law exercised >time-honored use of state police power to restrict the sale of sex. It >rejected the ACLU's argument that the constitutional right to privacy >covered the commercial sale of sex toys. > > Alabama Attorney General Troy King opposed the ACLU's appeal. > > "This case involves conduct that is both public and commercial -- the sale >of sexual devices to the general public in commercial retail shopping >centers" and at in-house Tupperware-style parties, he said. > > King said the law respected "the distinction between public commercial >conduct and purely private behavior." He said, "It ... stays out of people's >bedrooms." > > The justices rejected the appeal without any comment or recorded dissent. ------ End of Forwarded Message ------------------------------------- You are subscribed as archive@mail-archive.com To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/
