Minnesota Game Law Tossed By Judge

It seems that gamers weren't the only ones troubled by Minnesota Attorney General Mike Hatch's rather bizarre take on violent video games, which he referred to as "worthless, disgusting speech" and "speech of low societal value."

Federal District Court Judge James Rosenbaum today issued a permanent injunction against Minnesota's "fine the buyer" law. The unusual statute turned traditional video game legislation on end by levying $25 fines against underage buyers of M- and AO-rated games.

As reported by the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star-Tribune, Judge Rosenbaum ruled that Minnesota failed to prove any harm to kids caused by violent games. The Judge also ruled that the law violated the First Amendment, writing:

"The First Amendment . . . was certainly established to keep the government from becoming the arbiter of what constitutes 'worthless' or 'disgusting' speech. The Court declines the State's invitation to enter into an evaluation of this kind."

Judge Rosenbaum, who played an Xbox as part of his judicial review, was clearly referring to the comments made by Hatch in written arguments in support of the Minnesota law. Thus, Minnesota joins the ranks of states with failed video game laws, including Washington, Illinois, and Michigan. Game statutes in California, Louisiana and Oklahoma are still under judicial review.

EMA (game retailers & renters) President Bo Andersen was quick to react to the Minnesota ruling, saying, "We are pleased that the court has so quickly overturned this ill-conceived law. Even the authors of this law conceded that they never expected it to be enforced..."

Read the entire 16-page decision here. Or, go here for all GamePolitics coverage of the Minnesota law.

Also, a big GP shout-out to reader Shih Tzu for the tip on this one!