The Animal Crush Video Prohibition Act of 2010 was a bill, introduced by Rep. Elton Gallegly

Elton Gallegly

Elton William Gallegly is the U.S. Representative for , and previously the 23rd and 21st, serving in Congress since 1993. He is a member of the Republican Party.-Early life, education, and pre-congressional career:...

 (R

Republican Party (United States)

The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

-CA

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

), that passed during the 111th United States Congress

111th United States Congress

The One Hundred Eleventh United States Congress was the meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government from January 3, 2009 until January 3, 2011. It began during the last two weeks of the George W. Bush administration, with the remainder spanning the first two years of...

 and signed into law on December 9, 2010 by President Barack Obama

Barack Obama

Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...

. The act revises a previous law that was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court

Supreme Court of the United States

The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...

 in United States v. Stevens

United States v. Stevens

United States v. Stevens, 559 U.S. ___, 130 S.Ct. 1577 was an April 20, 2010 decision by the Supreme Court of the United States, which ruled that the version of 18 U.S.C...

. It addresses the banning of depictions of cruelty to animals

Cruelty to animals

Cruelty to animals, also called animal abuse or animal neglect, is the infliction of suffering or harm upon non-human animals, for purposes other than self-defense. More narrowly, it can be harm for specific gain, such as killing animals for food or for their fur, although opinions differ with...

 to satisfy a sexual fetish

Crush fetish

A crush fetish is a paraphilia in which one is sexually aroused when usually someone of the opposite sex crushes objects, food and sometimes small animals or insects with/under their foot. The term soft crush, the more common fetish: refers to videos involving small animals being crushed, usually...

.

Background

In 1999, Congress passed a statute (Public Law 106-152 — Title 18, Section 48) aimed at banning the publication, sale, and ownership of so-called "crush videos'" which are films that feature a person or another animal crushing or trampling another smaller animal to death. The Supreme Court in 2010 ruled the law to be too vague and broad in United States v. Stevens

United States v. Stevens

United States v. Stevens, 559 U.S. ___, 130 S.Ct. 1577 was an April 20, 2010 decision by the Supreme Court of the United States, which ruled that the version of 18 U.S.C...

, and in an 8-1 decision nullified the 1999 law. Later in 2010, the Congress passed a reworded version of (Public Law 111-294 — Title 18, Section 48), which was signed into law by President Obama on December 9, 2010.