First Amendment Rights

The three laws I mentioned from 2005 in Illinois, Michigan, and California all deal with the same general issue, video games being protected under the first amendment.  In all three cases, the law held up that video games can’t be banned in the way those three governors were trying to do.  In a similar, but more recent case, California signed a new bill into law that caused the Supreme Court to finally step in for a major ruling.  The general idea is that the Supreme Court believes that video games, in its current state, is protected under the first amendment, and that it is a form of expression for kids, which is why it cannot be restricted (Mott).  However, one of the judges on this case, of Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association, cautioned, “In considering the application of unchanging constitutional principles to new and rapidly evolving technology, this Court should proceed with caution.  We should make every effort to understand the new technology…We should not jump to the conclusion that the new technology is fundamentally the same as some older thing with which we are familiar.” (Mott)  This quote from one of the judges shows that there is still a chance that, with technology developing further and further, the Supreme Court might make a ruling that disagrees with the ruling made in Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association.  So, even though video games are currently safe under the first amendment, they might not always be.