An Illinois law that would have gone into effect January 1, limiting the or rental sale of particularly violent games to minors, has been shown to be unconstitutional by U.S. District Court Judge Matthew Kennelly. Supporter of the bill claimed that games with very violent or sexual content have a negative influencing effect on children, but Kennelly claims that they "have come nowhere near" to tangibly demonstrating why the measure should be upheld. He also pointed out that there has not even been a conclusive causal link between games and violence, or at least not one that runs the way the bill's supporters claim.

"Defendants have failed to present substantial evidence showing that playing violent video games causes minors to have aggressive feelings or engage in aggressive behaviour...With these limited findings, it is impossible to know which way the causal relationship runs: it may be that aggressive children may also be attracted to violent video games." ...

"In this country, the state lacks the authority to ban protected speech on the ground that it affects the listener's or observer's thoughts and attitudes," the judge wrote.

It was certainly good news for groups such as the Illinois Retail Merchants Association, which helped launch the suit to block to the bill. IRMA president David Vite said, "It's unfortunate that the state of Illinois spent taxpayer money defending this statute. This is precisely what we told them would happen."

Entertainment Software Association president Doug Lowenstein also chimed in, noting that "this is the fifth decision of this type," suggesting that attempts to impose legal restrictions on game sales end up on shaky ground. The ESA is also contesting Hilary Clinton's recently proposed Family Entertainment Protection Act, which seeks to give the federal government certain degrees of power over the ESRB.