Michigan’s proposed state law to make it a misdemeanor to sell video games rated Mature or Adults Only to minors has been ruled unconstitutional by the Honorable George Caram Steeh, of the US District Court, Eastern District of Michigan. Steeh had previously delayed implementation of the law in November, handing out a preliminary injunction while indicating that the law would more than likely not pass constitutional muster. Today’s ruling makes the injunction permanent.

Michigan state’s claim that video games were somehow less protected under the First Amendment were rejected in whole by the Judge, who ruled “that video games contain creative, expressive free speech, inseparable from their interactive functional elements, and are therefore protected by the First Amendment.” Steeh also ruled that the state’s expert witness failed to prove that “video games have ever caused anyone to commit a violent act, as opposed to feeling aggressive, or have caused the average level of violence to increase anywhere.”

Read More | ESA Press Release
PDF File | Judge Steeh’s Ruling