The United States Supreme Court this fall will hear argument on a case from the Western District of Pennsylvania involving the sale of dog fighting videos.

The U.S. Department of Justice asked the court to hear the case of Robert J. Stevens, of Pittsville, Va., late last year.

Mr. Stevens was convicted in Pittsburgh in January 2005 of selling depictions of animals being tortured. He was sentenced to 37 months in prison. But in July, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals not only overturned his conviction but also called the law he was charged with violating unconstitutional. It was struck down because the court found that it "constitutes an impermissible infringement on free speech."

Mr. Stevens was charged for selling videos of pitbulls fighting and killing pigs. The law under which he was cited was passed in 1999 as a way to stop the sale of fetish "crush" videos, in which small animals are crushed by women wearing high heels.

The chances of the Supreme Court taking any given case are very slim. Typically, out of about 10,000 requests, the court grants only 75 to 80.