WASHINGTON – Republican Utah state representative Chris Cannon, who first introduced a bill to Congress known as the Pornography Jurisdiction Limitation Act in 2006, resubmitted the same bill last Thursday, according to the Deseret Morning News.
Intended to keep the federal government from deciding whether an individual state's porn laws are constitutional, the bill never made it out of committee on its 2006 go-around.
But Cannon maintains that the federal judiciary has no province to tell a community what it should or should not consider "obscene."
"For too long, federal courts have created a dangerous climate for our children by overturning important decisions of state courts that restrict pornography consumption and distribution within its borders," Cannon said. "Pornographers should not be able to shop for a federal judge in California with the authority to tell Utahans what is and what is not obscene and unacceptable."
Cannon's concerns stem in part from the fact that a Utah state law, if challenged, would proceed to the Ninth District Court of Appeals, which is regarded as being liberal.
"There is a persuasive historical precedent for limiting jurisdiction," Cannon said. "In no way does this legislation deny anyone his day in court. Instead, it simply shifts that decision from the federal court system to the system closest to the people of Utah and other states."
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