Historian Kevin Impellizeri shares a story of a video game controversy to his friends: Elford Stephens, Phil Thomas, and Andy Hunter. In today's episode, we examine Edmund G. Brown, Governor of the State of California, and Kamala Harris, Attorney General of the State of California v. Entertainment Merchants Association and Entertainment Software Association aka Brown v. EMA, a landmark 2011 Supreme Court ruling that granted video games free speech protection in the United States.

Topics discussed include: the history of laws banning access to "violent video games," why they kept failing, Jack Thompson's feuds, and what Rod Blagojevich has been up to since getting thrown out office for massive corruption.

Check out all the records on the case, including oral arguments and the Supreme Court's ruling: https://www.oyez.org/cases/2010/08-1448.

Theme Music: Occam's Sikhwee by Sikh Knowledge (Free Music Archive: https://bit.ly/33G4sLO), used under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 US (https://bit.ly/33JXogQ) 
More info, including show notes and sources at http://scandalousgamespodcast.wordpress.com.