COMM Law - Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)

Government's defense of CDA

Similar decency laws had been upheld in three prior Supreme Court decisions: Ginsberg v. New York (1968); F.C.C. v. Pacifica Foundation (1978); and Renton v. Playtime Theatres, Inc. (1986)

Summary

A case in which all nine Justices of the Court voted to strike down anti-indecency provisions of the Communications Decency Act (the CDA), finding they violated the freedom of speech provisions of the First Amendment. This was the first major Supreme Court ruling regarding the regulation of materials distributed via the Internet.

Decision of the court

all nine Justices of the Court voted to strike down anti-indecency provisions of the CDA. Reasons include: the CDA lacks the precision that the First Amendment requires and it effectively suppresses a large amount of speech that adults have a constitutional right to receive and to address.

Concurring Opinions

Justice O'Connor, joined by Chief Justice Rehnquist. agreed with the decision "as of 1997." expressed interest in the idea of creating an "adult zone" on the Internet that was made inaccessible to minors through "gateway technology." The two *dissented in part too*, writing they would have invalidated a narrower portion of the two CDA provisions under review.

CDA

The Communications Decency Act was an attempt to protect minors from indecent and obscene material on the Internet by criminalizing the knowing transmission of "obscene or indecent" messages to any recipient under 18.