As first reported yesterday (see 'Favorable Ruling on Arkansas Act 858'), Judge G. Thomas Eisele of the U.S. District Court of Arkansas Eastern District ruled that Arkansas Act 858 is unconstitutional.  The law required that constitutionally protected materials be displayed in a segregated area if they could be considered inappropriate for younger minors.  In his ruling, Judge Eisele found these display restrictions 'facially unconstitutional under the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution because such provisions are overbroad and impose unconstitutional prior restraint on the availability and display of constitutionally protected, non-obscene materials to both adults and older minors.'

 

Charles Brownstein, executive director of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, a plaintiff in the suit, said of the ruling, 'This is a victory for readers and retailers in Arkansas whose First Amendment rights have been preserved by this well-considered decision.'