ABSTRACT
During an oral argument before the United States Supreme Court in 2010, Justice Samuel Alito poked fun at his usual ideological ally, Justice Antonin Scalia. The issue before the Court was whether violent video games were protected by the First Amendment, which guarantees freedom of speech. ‘I think what Justice Scalia wants to know’, Alito deadpanned, ‘is what James Madison thought about video games. Did he enjoy them?’ Scalia, who did not seem to find this at all funny, growled in response, ‘No, I want to know what James Madison thought about violence. Was there any indication that anybody thought, when the First Amendment was adopted, that there – there was an exception to it for – for speech regarding violence? Anybody?’ (Oral Argument Transcript 2010).
