Editorial: Free speech rights upheld by high court

Thursday, April 18, 2002 | 8:52 a.m.

In 1996 Congress passed legislation that made it illegal to create, distribute or possess "virtual" child pornography, whether it's computer-generated images of children engaging in sex or young adults in films portraying children as having sex. But on Tuesday the U.S. Supreme Court struck down provisions of the Child Pornography Prevention Act. The court's decision, written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, was sensible, acknowledging that it was unconstitutional to ban speech that doesn't record a crime and doesn't create any victims from its production.

Kennedy noted that even contemporary movies based on great works of literature, such as Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet," would run afoul of this law because minors are depicted as having sex. Government runs into trouble -- and infringes on the First Amendment -- when it seeks to regulate or ban ideas. But defense of free speech shouldn't be confused with defense of child pornography. Those laws dealing with actual, illegal acts of child pornography aren't affected by the court's decision and they should be aggressively enforced by prosecutors. What becomes indefensible, as Kennedy reasoned, are efforts to control thought: "The right to think is the beginning of freedom, and speech must be protected from the government because speech is the beginning of thought."