CARNAL NATION

The Free Speech Coalition and fourteen other plaintiffs have filed suit against the Federal Government challenging the 18 U.S.C. §§2257 regulations, which require filmmakers and photographers to keep age records of all models and actors who appear in sexually explicit materials. The suit claims that 2257 regulations are "unconstitutional, overbroad, and over-burdensome."  J. Michael Murray, the attorney for the plaintiffs, said that the case represents "a full-scale attack" on the regulations, which have been broadly criticized by artists, adult industry workers, and free speech advocates. The breadth of dissent against the record-keeping regulations is easily illustrated by the list of individuals and organizations who serve as co-plaintiffs on the case, including sexologist Dr. Carol Queen, photographer Barbara Nitke, sex educators Betty Dodson and Carlin Ross, adult movie performer Nina Hartley, and the American Society of Media Photographers, representing 7,000 members.

The complaint says that "The statutes impose substantial restrictions and burdens on a vast quantity of protected expression and consequently, chill and, in some cases, as a practical matter, suppress its production and dissemination." Those burdens are especially strenuous for small, independent photographers and filmmakers. Under 2257, identification records must be kept for all nude or sexual images, and those records must be available for inspection "at all reasonable times." The regulations also demand that a copy of the work must be kept with each subject's ID documents. For a single photo session, that would mean that a copy of each photo taken would have to be included in the file with each model's ID documentation.

The complaint also attacks 2257 regulations on the grounds that they inherently allow violations of Fourth Amendment rights because they empower undefined "authorized inspectors" to "conduct searches and seizures of persons' homes, studios and/or office—without warrant or notice."