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Judge blocks measure aimed at protecting children

February 2, 1999
Web posted at: 8:34 a.m. EST (1334 GMT)

In this story:

• What next?
• Reaction: Pro/Con
• Blocked law was a second try
• Related stories and sites

U.S. District Judge Lowell Reed issued a preliminary injunction on Monday -- the same day the Child Online Protection Act (COPA) had been scheduled to go into effect -- saying it could hinder free speech.

He expressed sympathy with the law's intent to protect children under 17 from contact with material that could harm them psychologically or physically.

But the judge said the law threatened constitutional free-speech rights, adding that "the greater good" would be served by barring enforcement of the law.

"Indeed, perhaps we do the minors of this country harm if First Amendment protections, which they will with age inherit fully, are chipped away in the name of their protection," Reed wrote in his decision.

What next?

Justice Department lawyers must decide whether to appeal the preliminary injunction, ask for a full-blown trial or agree to allow Reed's decision to become permanent.

When President Clinton signed COPA last year, Reed issued a restraining order against its enforcement, saying it could hinder constitutionally protected speech.

Reed's latest decision acts as a more permanent delay.

The law would require commercial Web sites to collect a credit card number or some other access code as proof of age before allowing Internet users to view online material "harmful to minors."

Violators would face penalties of up to six months in jail and $150,000 per day in fines.

Reaction: Pro/Con

The law's lead sponsors urged the administration to continue defending the measure:

• "I look forward to a favorable judgment at the appellate level -- a day that will be celebrated by millions of parents and grandparents across the nation," said Rep. James C. Greenwood, R-Pennsylvania.

• Greenwood and Rep. Tom Bliley, R-Virginia, issued a statement that calls on the Clinton administration "to continue defending this law or (appeal) all the way to the Supreme Court."

"In our view, traditional laws for minors at the state level have worked effectively to protect children from raw pornography without limiting adults' free expression or access to legal materials. Through COPA, we seek only to apply the same, common-sense standard to the World Wide Web as prevails in the rest of our free and democratic society," their statement said.

Critics of the law, however, praised the judge for blocking enforcement:

• "We're thrilled that the judge has realized at this stage that our clients have some very credible fears," said Emily Whitfield, a spokeswoman for The American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU had challenged the law along with 17 clients including Internet companies, booksellers, homosexual rights groups, medical professionals and the media.

• The owner of a chain of gay- and lesbian-themed bookstores that does a portion of its business online expressed relief. Norman Laurila, founder and owner of A Different Light, which has bookstores in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco, had planned to take down the company's Web site if the law were permitted to take effect.

Many of the items sold on the Web site have sexually explicit themes. Laurila said he feared prosecution or having to defend against a civil lawsuit.

Blocked law was a second try

COPA was passed by the Republican-controlled Congress and signed by Clinton last October as a replacement for the Communications Decency Act, which the U.S. Supreme Court struck down in 1997 for violating First Amendment free speech rights.

Unlike the earlier law, the new one was aimed solely at the operators of commercial Internet sites. The law made it a crime for Web site operators knowingly to provide minors with access to sexually explicit material.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.