Get ready to get spammed more?

Virginia’s Supreme Court ruled Friday that the state’s anti-spam law was unconstitutional on First Amendment grounds and ordered notorious spammer Jeremy Jaynes freed from prison. That didn’t please the state:

Lawyers for the state had argued that the First Amendment doesn't apply because the Virginia law bars trespassing on privately owned e-mail servers through phony e-mail routing and transmission information. The court rejected that characterization of the law.

Attorney General Bob McDonnell promised to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The journalist in me appreciates the support for the First Amendment, and also can’t see how spam e-mail is significantly different from junk snail mail. (Virginia is the only state in the country with a law against non-commercial spam e-mail.)