High Court Upholds Child Porn Promo Ban

“Dad of toddler has 'good' pics of her an me for swap of your toddler pics, or live cam.”

The Supreme Court upheld criminal penalties Monday for promoting child pornography.

The court, in a 7-2 decision, brushed aside concerns that the law could apply to mainstream movies that depict adolescent sex, classic literature or innocent e-mails that describe pictures of grandchildren.

The ruling upheld part of a 2003 law that also prohibits possession of child porn. It replaced an earlier law against child pornography that the court struck down as unconstitutional.

"This is an instance of if at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Congress has been trying for years now to expand prohibitions against material promoted as child pornography even if the material wasn't really child pornography and finally, now the Court has decided that the law is narrow enough to avoid first amendment concerns," writes CBS News chief legal analyst Andrew Cohen. Read more