The Philadelphia court had first considered the law in 1999 and, at that time, came to the same conclusion – with the result that it upheld an injunction to stop the law coming into force. That ruling was appealed by the US Justice Department to the US Supreme Court which, in May 2002, upheld part of the law and referred it back to the lower court for reconsideration.
The 1998 law – known as COPA - creates a crime of knowingly placing on-line for commercial purposes any material that is "available to" and deemed harmful to minors. Violation carries a fine of up to $50,000 and 6 months in prison, although there is a defence if the web site operator restricted access to minors by requiring use of a credit card or other means of age verification.
The case against COPA's validity was brought by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The ACLU argues that law's ban on material which is legal for viewing by adults is inconsistent with the principle of free speech.
COPA applies "contemporary community standards" to determine whether or not material is harmful to children. In the Supreme Court, Justice Clarence Thomas said that this approach "does not by itself" violate the Constitution; but he added that the court was not expressing views on whether the law may be unconstitutional for other reasons.
Yesterday's court opnion was more extensive than the Philadelphia court's first attempt. It reasons that COPA is unconstitutional because it is not narrowly tailored to target only pornography and that legitimate webmasters would be unfairly targeted.
The Justice Department may still appeal the ruling back to the Supreme Court.
Yesterday's opinion can be downloaded as a 59-page PDF from:
www.ca3.uscourts.gov/recentop/week/991324.pdf
The Supreme Court's ruling can be downloaded as a 54-page PDF at:
www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/01pdf/00-1293.pdf
