Supreme Court Blocks COPA, Sends Case Back to Lower Court

The Supreme Court June 29 affirmed 5–4 a lower court’s decision to block enforcement of the Child Online Protection Act (COPA), but stopped short of declaring the law unconstitutional and, for a second time, sent Ashcroft v. ACLU back for a new trial.

Passed in 1998 but never enforced due to injunctions and lower-court decisions won by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of 17 plaintiffs, COPA would penalize commercial websites that do not obtain proof of age before providing material considered harmful to minors.

Writing for the majority, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy said the lower court must consider whether the voluntary use of filters would not be as effective as—or more effective than—the law. Content-based prohibitions like COPA, he wrote, “have the constant potential to be a repressive force in the lives and thoughts of a free people,” the June 30 New York Times reported.

However, Kennedy did not rule out the possibility that the lower court could find the law constitutional, adding, “This opinion does not foreclose the district court from concluding, upon a proper showing by the government . . . that COPA is the least restrictive alternative to accomplish Congress’ goal.”

“This is a win for the Internet and for the Constitution, but it is not a loss for families,” said Judith Krug, director of the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom. “Parents who choose to filter their children’s access are exercising parental responsibility. When the government mandates filters, however, it’s censorship.”

Posted July 2, 2004.