By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com
Some conservative politicians — mostly Republicans but some Dems — are beating their chest over pornography.
The politicians including Sen. Orin Hatch (R-Utah) signed a letter earlier this month that was sent to Attorney Gen. Eric Holder Jr. complaining about the Justice Department shuttering its Obscenity Prosecution Task Force. The unit was created under President George W. Bush, according to Politico.
The group is complaining that the department isn’t doing enough to crackdown on pornography.
Politico reports that the Justice Department insists it’s not giving up the battle against pornography, but it’s best handled at the U.S. Attorney level.
“Attorney General Holder told the Judiciary Committee last year that this task force was the centerpiece of the strategy to combat adult obscenity,” Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) told POLITICO in a statement Friday. “Rather than initiate a single new case since President Obama took office, however, the only development in this area has been the dismantling of the task force. As the toxic waste of obscenity continues to spread and harm everyone it touches, it appears the Obama administration is giving up without a fight.”
In the letter sent to Holder, according to Politico, the politicians said: “We write to urge the Department of Justice vigorously to enforce federal obscenity laws against major commercial distributors of hardcore adult pornography.
“We know more than ever how illegal adult obscenity contributes to violence against women, addiction, harm to children, and sex trafficking. This material harms individuals, families and communities and the problems are only getting worse.”
Not all see the elimination of the unit as a bad thing.
“It’s a very smart and pragmatic move on the part of the administration,” Diane Duke of the Free Speech Coalition, a group representing businesses that produce sexually-explicit entertainment, told Politico. “It was a witch hunt against folks in the industry, and it wasn’t one that was particularly successful. … It just seems like, finally, the Department of Justice has caught up with the rest of the nation.”
