The House of Representatives has passed a new bill, aimed at closing the "loophole" that permits "morphed" child pornography based on a recent Supreme Court decision. That loophole, as discussed earlier this year, is that no children are involved, so it's not really kiddie porn. It's just porn that appears to have kids, and has to be treated as porn. This is distasteful but correct.

However, in an election year, the politicians can't stand the idea that people who want to look at kiddie porn can't be imprisoned just for wanting it, so they're trying again. This time, the bill would ban any image that is "virtually indistinguishable from that of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct."

That dog still won't hunt. The only reason kiddie porn is more illegal than regular porn -- which some people have been trying to ban forever -- is that it harms kids. This bill would try once again to make a special class of speech that harms no children, but punishes those who want to look at it because it looks like children. It's indistinguishable from the previous CPPA, and it won't stand constitutional muster -- as long as Rehnquist, Scalia, and Thomas clones don't take over the court.

It amazes me that congresscritters swear an oath to preserve, protect, and defend the US Constitution, and then deliberately pass laws they know are unconstitutional just to score political points. Would that such activities led to expulsion.