Utah rep now attacking the 14th amendment

Cannon Aims to Strip Federal Courts of Obscenity Jurisdiction
by Darklady

WASHINGTON, DC -- If Utah Representative Chris Cannon gets his way, the Supreme Court will never be faced with another state pornography case again. Not because states will stop pushing for obscenity related convictions – but because federal courts would no longer be allowed to hear the cases. Period.

HR 5528, also known as the Pornography Jurisdiction Act, was introduced to the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday, June 6th by Cannon and referred to the House Judiciary committee by routine action later in the day. The bill seeks to ban federal courts from having jurisdiction to hear or decide challenges to state laws that related to sexually explicit material. In other words, if the constitutional value of a lower court’s decision was questioned, the federal courts would not be allowed to address the issue.

The exact words relating to this issue within Cannon’s bill are said to be “No court created by Act of Congress shall have any jurisdiction, and the Supreme Court shall have no appellate jurisdiction, to hear or decide any question…”

According to Cannon, the move is necessary because “Federal courts have been creating a dangerous climate for our children by overturning important decisions by state courts to restrict pornography consumption and distribution within their borders." The legislator believes that his bill “simply lets states decide for themselves how they tackle this problem.”

more (WARNING may contain sexually explicit content, not work friendly, yada yada ) http://www.ynot.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=news_article&sid=10619&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0

has been wanting to see something like this--the subject matter not being terribly of interest--for a few years. It sounds fine, under Article III, section 3, according to a naive reading.

This doesn't say that abridgement of the rights is constitutional; just that the Federal courts can't trump state courts.

This won't Congress, so I'm not worried. But part of me wants to see what SCOTUS and the rest of the court system would do with a law that restricted their jurisdiction.

And gee, if state courts can trump federal courts on this matter, then I guess states can just do the same thing with Abortion Rights, and in the future, slavery.

Geesh. Who cares what the implications are as long as it's about porn, right?