Arizona’s Nude Photo Ban Is History

PHOENIX (CN) - A federal judge approved Arizona's agreement not to enforce an unconstitutional law restricting display of nude images, and awarded the plaintiffs attorneys' fees.

U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton on Friday approved the settlement of Antigone Books et al. v. Arizona Attorney General.

Arizona enacted the law in 2014 ostensibly to fight revenge porn, but publishers, booksellers, librarians and photographers sued on First Amendment grounds. They pointed out that ARS 13-1425 could have criminalized a photographer who took artistic nude photos, the publisher who published it, the bookseller who sold it and a librarian who allowed it on shelves.

Arizona's attorney general and all of its county attorneys agreed in November 2014 not to enforce the law. Judge Bolton approved the settlement on July 10.

Attorneys' fees are yet to be determined.

ACLU attorney Dan Pochoda said in a statement that "it would be a waste of the Arizona taxpayers' money" for the state to try to defend the law.

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