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Abstract

In 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court, in deciding United States v. Stevens, held that rational basis review was no longer sufficient to criminalize depictions of acts if the acts depicted are themselves legal. In 2009, Marshall Hollins entered into a consensual sexual relationship with his seventeen-year old girlfriend. As is becoming common in our technological era, where every phone can record video and photographs and send those files to other devices, Mr. Hollins and his girlfriend used the technology available to them to document one of their excursions. Following his conviction for child pornography, Mr. Hollins challenged the Constitutionality of the Illinois statute under which he was charged. This note will answer the dissent of Illinois Supreme Court Justice Anne Burke. This note will not only analyze the effect that consideration of the Stevens case might have had on the Illinois Supreme Court’s decision but will also propose a solution to consent laws that, due to the different ages at which they regulate related conduct, create a confusing grey area of legality to those not trained to analyze the interrelationships between statutes.

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