Violent Video Games Get Supreme Court Date

The Supreme Court today agreed to hear a case that will determine whether California can regulate violent video games. The court will review a lower court's decision to throw out the state's ban on the sale or rental of violent games to minors; the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in Sacramento had argued that the law violated minors' First and 14th amendment rights.

California's law would have prohibited the sale or rental of violent games to anyone under 18 and imposed strict labeling rules on manufacturers. But the law was challenged almost immediately after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed it, and so has never been implemented. Opponents of the law note that video games already are labeled with a rating system that lets parents decide what games their children can purchase and play. (More video game violence stories.)