ENCINO, CA - On Monday the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that a California law blocking minors from buying violent video games violates the First Amendment.

The Wall Street Journal writes that the 2005 law California law prohibits selling or renting video games to minors because they stimulate "feelings of aggression," reduce "activity in the frontal lobes of the brain" and promote "violent antisocial or aggressive behavior." Then-Gov. Schwarzenegger signed the bill into law, but it never took effect because lower courts found that it violated free-expression rights.

Justice Scalia wrote the majority opinion, noting that as far as the First Amendment is concerned, viewing violent video games is essentially the same as reading books. "Reading Dante is unquestionably more cultured and intellectually edifying than playing Mortal Kombat. But these cultural and intellectual differences are not constitutional ones," he wrote.

Bo Andersen, president and CEO of the Entertainment Merchants Association, commented that the group welcomes the court??s ruling. "We are gratified that our position that the law violates the First Amendment??s guarantee of freedom of expression has been vindicated and there now can be no argument whether video games are entitled to the same protection as books, movies, music, and other expressive entertainment.

Anderson added that video game retailers understand their responsibility to help parents make informed decisions about the video games they buy for their children and to ensure that children are not able to purchase mature-rated games without their parents?? permission