Sponsors (147)
Narrows federal criminal and customs rules on obscene/indecent materials, removes certain abortion-related items, and revises customs seizure/exceptions and agency discretion.
Official title: To revise sections 552, 1461, and 1462 of title 18, United States Code, and section 305 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1305), and for other purposes.
Introduced March 11, 2025 by Becca Balint · Last progress March 11, 2025
The bill aims to simplify and clarify border enforcement and criminal language around obscene material, but does so in ways that may concentrate discretion at the Secretary and create legal uncertainty that could curtail speech, trigger litigation, and raise costs for publishers and other affected parties.
Customs and border officials and border communities gain a single, Secretary-directed rule replacing multiple provisos, making decisions about importing obscene material clearer and enforcement more administrable.
Law enforcement agencies face narrower criminal definitions for ambiguous "indecent" material, reducing grounds for vague prosecutions and clarifying what conduct may be criminally pursued.
People who distribute or access sexually explicit or abortion-related materials (including immigrants and the public) may see reduced legal protections or greater risk of criminalization because the revised language could still encompass lawful speech or materials.
Small businesses, publishers, taxpayers, and federal employees may face concentrated decision-making power in the Secretary, risking inconsistent, more restrictive, or opaque importation determinations that affect lawful goods and publishers.
Small businesses, publishers, defendants, and taxpayers may face increased litigation and legal costs because reworded or cross-referenced criminal provisions will likely prompt court challenges to define new terms like "material."
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Changes to federal obscenity and customs law narrow which materials can be criminally targeted or seized. The bill removes references to “indecent” material and certain abortion-related items from federal criminal statutes, replaces older statutory language with narrower cross-references, and revises customs forfeiture and exception language so that government discretion over seized imported “obscene or immoral” articles is changed.