A federal statute criminalized the creation, sale, or possession of certain depictions of animal cruelty. For purposes of the statute, a depiction of “animal cruelty” was defined as one “in which a living animal is intentionally maimed, mutilated, tortured, wounded, or killed,” if the depicted conduct violated federal or state law at the place where the creation, sale, or possession took place. The legislative history of the statute indicated that it was prompted by a congressional objective of eliminating dissemination of so-called crush videos (videos showing live animals being crushed to death by persons stomping on them). 

Robert Stevens operated a website on which he sold videos of pitbulls engaging in dogfighting and otherwise attacking animals. After he was convicted of violating the above described statute by selling the videos, he appealed on the ground that the statute violated the First Amendment. The case made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court. How did the Court rule? Was Stevens entitled to the protection of the First Amendment?