Free Republic

With the public rise of the values voter, efforts against judicial activism have also been gaining ground. One person likely to find himself at the center of this debate is U.S. District Judge Gary Lancaster, who as recently as August advocated for judicial restraint: "Far be it for a district judge to, at best, misinterpret and at worst, appear to overrule the U.S. Supreme Court." Late last week, however, Judge Lancaster dismissed United States v. Extreme Associates, declaring federal obscenity statutes unconstitutional and tossing out three decades of Supreme Court precedent. So much for judicial restraint. The case centered on...

A federal judge on Thursday dismissed federal obscenity charges against a California couple and their pornographic video business that distributed graphic videos depicting rape and murder. The case against Extreme Associates and its owners, filed in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh, was the first federal obscenity prosecution in decades against a producer of pornographic material. It was considered to herald a renewed anti-obscenity campaign by the U.S. Justice Department. U.S. District Judge Gary Lancaster dismissed the 10-count obscenity indictment against Robert Zicari, 31, also known as Rob Black, and his wife, Janet Romano, 27, also known as Lizzie Borden, of...