Restriction on Sex Offender Infringes Free Exercise Rights

In United States v. Lantz, (6th Cir., Nov. 22, 2011), the 6th Circuit vacated, in part on religious freedom grounds, one of the special terms of supervised release  imposed on defendant who plead guilty to distributing child pornography. The terms would take effect after the defendant completed a 15-year prison sentence.  At issue was the requirement that "Defendant shall neither possess nor have under his control any matter that is pornographic or that depicts or alludes to sexual activity..." The court concluded:

A restriction on material that "depicts . . . sexual activity" alone might not be overly broad. But one that bans mere allusion to sexual activity is certainly overly broad. Not only would such a ban prohibit the defendant from reading significant parts of the Old Testament—Proverbs 7, The Song of Solomon, and II Samuel 11 come immediately to mind—it would encompass an enormous swath of literature, music, and other media.... Given the mass of literature and other media such a condition would encompass, the error was clear and obvious; it affects substantial First Amendment rights to receive information ... and to freely exercise religion.