Once again a U.S. Senate subcommittee has decided to conduct a one-sided hearing today into important First Amendment issues.
“It seems no matter how early or how often we ask to present our case, we’re shut out of the discussion,” said Paul Cambria, general counsel to the Adult Freedom Foundation.
"AFF made phone calls, sent e-mails and Federal Express letters to Senator Samuel Brownback's office offering to provide expert witnesses from the Adult Entertainment Industry.
"We were told it is the senator’s prerogative to call the witnesses he wants and he did not want to hear from our witnesses."
Cambria continued, “Every time a hearing is scheduled, the very industry most affected by the proceedings is without a voice at the table."
Tentatively scheduled to testify are Patrick Trueman, the former head of the Child Exploitation and Obscenity section of the U.S. Justice Dept. and now senior legal counsel to the pro censorship American Family Assn., and Robert Destro, of the Catholic University of America Law School. A third witness has yet to be announced.
“It gives the appearance of a stacked deck,” Cambria said of the hearing on “Obscenity Prosecution and the Constitution,” set for Washington, D.C. The hearing stems from a federal court ruling in the “Extreme Associates” case.
Sen. Brownback (R-K) also excluded adult entertainment expert witnesses from a hearing he conducted last November.
AVN.com will have a full report on today's proceedings in Washington later today.
