Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff ponders signing on to brief regarding violent video games case

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff may be about to fire his opinion that the right to free speech extends even to the most violent of video games all the way to the nation's top court.

James P. Steyer, a Stanford law professor and CEO of the not-for-profit Common Sense Media, said Shurtleff is considering adding his name to a document in support of Entertainment Merchants Association, a video game trade association embroiled in a lawsuit with the state of California.

If he signs on, Shurtleff will be asking the Supreme Court to rule that it's an unconstitutional violation of free speech for the government to ban any video game's sale to children — regardless of how violent the game's content may be.

"We're quite confident that Attorney General Shurtleff was planning to be the lead signer of an amicus brief defending the video game industry and these ultra-violent video games," Steyer said. "We'd like to talk to him about that, because we think that's against the best interests of kids and families in Utah and, quite frankly, runs contrary to everything he has professed to say as attorney general and what he says his mission is as attorney general. We find it perplexing that he would suddenly side with the video game industry.

"We don't know what suddenly motivated Attorney General Shurtleff to consider siding with the video game industry versus the best interests of kids and families. But we certainly would like to know, and we would like to persuade him that that was a decision that would not be in the best interests of kids and families in Utah."

When reached for comment on Wednesday, Shurtleff said, "I don't mind people lobbying me on issues, but I haven't made a decision on what to do yet."

Steyer, whose Common Sense Media has already joined an amicus brief in favor of the 2005 California law in question, which would ban the sale of ultra-violent video games to minors, sent a letter to Shurtleff on Monday asking to discuss the matter with him. The letter also callsShurtleff's potential support of the video game industry's position "perplexing given that the mission on your website states that your office is especially focused 'on protecting children,' and your bio on Twitter states, 'I am focused on protecting children, families and the citizens of Utah.' "

The U.S. Supreme Court already has agreed to hear arguments this fall in Schwarzenegger v. EMA. The video-game law never took effect because the industry trade group, the Entertainment Software Association, sued in federal court on the grounds that such a law would violate constitutionally protected rights of free speech. The case has been in litigation ever since.

When a case comes before the U.S. Supreme Court, interested parties can file an amicus brief — a document filed by a person not related to a case that offers information to help the judge evaluate the matter, also referred to as a "friend of the court brief" — in order to offer opinions on how the court should decide the case.

Contributing: Aaron Falk

e-mail: jaskar@desnews.com