The U.S. Supreme Court on January 8 turned away a challenge by six university professors who objected to a Virginia law that bars state employees from looking at sexually explicit material on the Internet at work. The 1996 law affects faculty members, librarians, and other researchers at state universities, who must get written permission from department heads to access any depiction or description of “sexual excitement,” “sexual conduct,” or “a lewd exhibition of nudity,” Reuters reported January 8.
In appealing to the Supreme Court, Melvin Urofsky of Virginia Commonwealth University argued that he had been unable to assign students online assignments on federal indecency law, while William and Mary Professor Terry Meyers said the law prohibited him from researching explicit themes in modern poetry.
The case met with success in district court, but was overturned by a 8–4 decision in the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on June 23, 2000, which ruled that the law guards against a sexually hostile work environment and discourages employees from wasting time.
Posted January 15, 2001.