PHILADELPHIA, PA—In a landmark ruling against the adult industry and every person who's ever taken a video or photo of him/her/themselves having sex, Judge Michael M. Baylson today issued a Judgment and Memorandum stating that the attorneys and witnesses arguing Free Speech Coalition's claims, as well of those of 15 other plaintiffs, against the federal recordkeeping and labeling laws, 2257 and 2257A, had not met their burden of proof, except as to the issue of whether FBI inspections of adult business records held in private homes could legally be done without prior notice. However, the ruling leaves in place the ability of inspectors to enter business premises without a warrant and inspect 2257 records.
The 74-page "Memorandum: Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law" details the claims made by plaintiffs, summarizes the procedural history of the case, and attempts to debunk several of the argument put forth about the unconstitutionality of a law that forces adult content producers (and many other people not named in the suit) to prove that their content does not contain minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct, requires perfect recordkeeping, labeling and other minutae on pain of two- to five-year prison sentences, and invades the privacy of lawful companies doing lawful business.
In support of its conclusions, the court spends the bulk of the Memorandum summarizing and analyzing the witnesses' testimony and the physical evidence before getting to its legal analysis of the issues involved. Look for AVN Legal Editor Mark Kernes' analysis of Judge Baylson's ruling later this afternoon.
