Supreme Court to review violent video game law

Today the Supreme Court is scheduled to review a California law restricting minors' rights to buy violent video games. A federal appeals court struck down this law in February 2009, saying at the time that even children and teenagers enjoy free speech rights that are protected by the First Amendment.

The California law slaps anyone who sells or rents a "violent video game" to a minor with a $1,000 fine. That's defined as a game in which the player has the option of "killing, maiming, dismembering, or sexually assaulting an image of a human being" in offensive ways. Parents or guardians are still permitted to buy those games for minors.

The U.S. Supreme Court has not squarely addressed this topic, but it has said in other cases that even minors have some free-expression rights.

For more on this story, read Supreme Court to weigh violent video game law on CNET News.