АҚШ Жоғарғы Сотының электрондық құпиялылық және сөз бостандығы жөніндегі ісі

the similarly named 2004 case dealing with electronic privacy

Ashcroft v. American Civil Liberties Union, 535 U. S. 564 (2002), followed by 542 U. S. 656 (2004), was a decision of the United States Supreme Court, ruling that the Child Online Protection Act (COPA) was unconstitutional as a violation of the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of speech.

In 1996 Congress passed the Communications Decency Act (CDA). The CDA prohibited the use of the Internet to purposely send indecent material to those under 18 years of age. In 1997 the Supreme Court unanimously struck down the anti indecency provisions of the CDA in Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union, because in the CDA lacked the precision necessary for any regulation of speech. Congress attempted to address the issue of Internet pornography with a new and more specific statute the following year.

In May 2002, the Supreme Court, in a 8 1 decision, affirmed the injunction against enforcement of COPA enacted by the circuit court, but ultimately ruled that the statute could not be invalidated because of the vague and overbroad definition of "contemporary community standards" in the Miller Test for obscenity. The government appealed that decision and the Supreme Court granted certiorari again, and in June 2004 the Court reaffirmed the original preliminary injunction. This time, the Supreme Court ruled 5 4 that, in light of the circuit court's further discussion of "contemporary community standards" in the Miller Test as applied to the Internet, COPA was indeed an unconstitutional restriction on freedom of speech. The court opined that using contemporary community standards to police the Internet would cause more harm than good, due to differing opinions across America about what was acceptable for children or consenting adults on the Internet. and this decision was appealed again to the Third Circuit. The circuit court ruled against the government again in 2008, once again upholding the injunction against enforcement. The government appealed this decision to the Supreme Court yet again in 2009, but this time the court denied certiorari, effectively striking COPA from the United States Code, with the law never having taken effect.