The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan filed suit June 23 seeking to overturn a law criminalizing the online dissemination of sexually explicit materials to minors. The organization is representing 10 plaintiffs that include California marriage and family therapist Marty Klein, owner of www.sexed.org, and Internet service provider Cyberspace Communications of Ann Arbor.
Effective August 1, the law, which exempts librarians in the workplace, carries a maximum two-year sentence and/or $10,000 fine. Gov. John Engler signed the bill on June 2 despite a legislative analysis that deemed the bill “almost certainly unconstitutional.”
“Michigan’s law violates the Commerce Clause because it would require a New Yorker who posts a Web page or a message to abide by Michigan standards,” ACLU cooperating attorney Andrew Nickelhoff said in a prepared statement. In using the same argument, the organization succeeded in overturning similar laws in New York and New Mexico within the past two years.
Posted July 5, 1999.