The Obama DOJ's 2009 decision to stop prosecuting obscenity unleashed harmful pornography on America

Source: https://www.facebook.com/americanspectator/. "The Pornography Free Pass | The American Spectator | USA News and Politics." February 1, 2026. spectator.org

The Gist

The author argues that when Obama's Justice Department stopped prosecuting pornography cases in 2009, it opened the floodgates for harmful online porn that's now causing serious problems like sex trafficking, revenge porn, and child abuse. The solution is to start prosecuting these cases again using existing obscenity laws.

Conclusion

The U.S. Department of Justice should resume prosecuting online obscenity cases to protect Americans from the widespread harms caused by unregulated pornography

Premises

1. In 2009, the Obama administration stopped prosecuting federal obscenity cases, ending effective deterrence against hardcore pornography distribution
2. Federal obscenity law under Miller v. California allows complete bans on obscene content, and the DOJ's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section had a 93% conviction rate before 2009
3. Since 2009, there has been an epidemic of harmful pornographic content including rape videos, deepfakes, revenge porn, and child sexual abuse material on platforms like Pornhub
4. The lack of enforcement has enabled sex trafficking through 'amateur' pornography production where victims are coerced and their abuse is monetized online
5. Pornography causes documented physical and psychological harms including addiction, brain changes similar to substance abuse, and widespread child-on-child sexual abuse
6. Even a single federal obscenity prosecution would send shock waves through the industry and immediately reduce extreme content and children's access

Assumptions

• The 2009 DOJ decision was the primary cause of increased online pornography rather than technological advancement
• Correlation between the timing of DOJ policy change and increased harmful content implies causation
• Federal obscenity prosecutions would be effective in reducing online pornography distribution
• The harms described are primarily attributable to pornography rather than other social factors
• Current obscenity laws are sufficient and appropriate tools for addressing online content

Analysis

Overall strength: Moderate. Argument type: Inductive.

Premise Strength

• In 2009, the Obama administration stopped prosecuting federal obscenity cases (Strong) — This is a verifiable factual claim about DOJ policy
• Federal obscenity law allows complete bans and had 93% conviction rate (Strong) — Cites specific legal precedent and concrete statistics
• Since 2009, there has been an epidemic of harmful pornographic content (Moderate) — Documents real harms but doesn't establish clear causal link to 2009 decision
• Lack of enforcement has enabled sex trafficking through pornography (Moderate) — Plausible connection but conflates correlation with causation
• Pornography causes documented harms including addiction and brain changes (Moderate) — Some scientific support but research on pornography addiction is still developing
• Single prosecution would send shock waves through the industry (Weak) — Speculative claim without evidence that modern prosecutions would have same deterrent effect

Potential Fallacies

• Post hoc ergo propter hoc (Core causal premise) — Assumes that because harmful online content increased after 2009, the DOJ decision caused it, without considering other factors like technological advancement
• Single cause fallacy (Overall argument structure) — Attributes complex social problems primarily to one policy decision while ignoring multiple contributing factors

Counterarguments

• Causal relationship between 2009 decision and current problems (High impact) — The explosion of online pornography coincided with smartphone adoption, social media growth, and technological advances that would have occurred regardless of DOJ policy
• Effectiveness of obscenity prosecutions (High impact) — Pre-2009 prosecutions targeted different distribution methods; modern platforms operate globally and may be beyond reach of US obscenity law
• First Amendment concerns (Medium impact) — Aggressive obscenity prosecution could chill protected speech and face constitutional challenges in the internet age

Suggested Improvements

• Causal evidence — Provide comparative analysis with countries that maintained strict enforcement to isolate the effect of the policy change Would strengthen the causal claim by controlling for technological variables
• Alternative solutions — Address why other regulatory approaches (age verification, platform liability) might be more effective than obscenity prosecution Would demonstrate consideration of the full range of policy options
• Constitutional analysis — Discuss how obscenity prosecutions would navigate First Amendment challenges in the digital age Would address a major practical obstacle to the proposed solution

Scenario Tests

• If the DOJ resumed obscenity prosecutions but harmful content continued to increase due to technological factors (Challenges) — Would suggest the 2009 decision was not the primary cause of current problems
• If countries with strict pornography enforcement show similar patterns of online abuse (Challenges) — Would indicate that enforcement alone may not solve the underlying issues
• If major platforms moved operations offshore in response to US prosecutions (Challenges) — Would limit the effectiveness of the proposed solution

Coherence & Relevance

The argument has a clear logical structure but relies heavily on a single causal explanation for complex social phenomena. The premises support the conclusion but would benefit from stronger evidence of causation rather than correlation.

• 2009 DOJ decision stopped prosecutions (Strong) — None - directly supports the causal claim
• Harmful content increased since 2009 (Moderate) — Temporal correlation doesn't establish causation without controlling for other factors
• Previous prosecutions were effective (Moderate) — Pre-internet enforcement may not translate to digital platforms
• Single prosecution would have deterrent effect (Weak) — Speculative without evidence of how modern industry would respond

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