Documents

1. Text of the Child Online Protection Act
2. Judge Reed's order granting Preliminary Injunction
3 Appellate Amicus: Cover; Brief
4.Plaintiffs' brief in the U.S. Supreme Court
5. The Supreme Court decision sending COPA back to the lower court
6. ACLU Brief on Remand
7. Remand Amicus Brief
8. Judge Garth's Opinion
9.  Amicus Brief in COPA
10. The Supreme Court Decision barring enforcement of COPA and remanding it to District Court.
11. U.S. District Court Judge Lowell Reed's final adjudication (March 22, 2007)
12. Government's brief in the Third Circuit Court of Appeals (September 2007)
13. Media Coalition's amicus brief in the Third Circuit (October 29, 2007)
 

Most recent news: On March 22, 2007, U.S. District Court Judge Lowell Reed ruled COPA unconstitutional.

History:

This case was brought in United States District Court in Philadelphia on October 22, 1998 by a coalition led by the ACLU and including ABFFE, challenging the constitutionality of the Child Online Protection Act  ("COPA"). On November 19, 1998, Judge Lowell A. Reed Jr. issued a temporary restraining order followed by a six-day hearing before Judge Reed in January 1999. 

Prior to the hearing, on January 11, 1999, a media group including AAP, Freedom to Read Foundation, IDSA, MPA, NACS, NARM, PBAA, PMA and RIAA filed an amicus brief in support of plaintiffs. On February 1, 1999, Judge Reed granted a preliminary injunction. The government appealed the case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Media Coalition members again filed an amicus brief. The argument was held on November 4, 1999, and the Court, on June 22, 2000, affirmed the granting of the injunction below based on the inapplicability of the community standards prong of Miller/Ginsberg, rather than the reasons set forth by the lower court. The U.S. filed a petition for rehearing with the Third Circuit, which was denied on September 15, 2000. The U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari. The case was argued before the Supreme Court on November 28, 2001. 

The U.S. Supreme Court had ruled on May 13, 2002 to remand the case to the third circuit to determine whether the statute would ban First Amendment protected speech for adults. The decision, which overturned the appellate court's opinion finding constitutional infirmity with determining community standards on the Internet, was written by Justice Thomas and joined by Justices Rehnquist, O'Connor, Scalia, and Breyer with Justices Kennedy, Souter, and Ginsburg concurring. Justice Stevens dissented. 

On March 6, 2003, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit again found COPA unconstitutional. In an opinion by Judge Garth, the Court found the statute vague and overbroad for a number of reasons. The Justice Department filed a petition in April for rehearing and for rehearing en banc, seeking to overturn the March 6 decision. In mid-May, the Third Circuit denied the petition. 

The Supreme Court granted certiorari for a second time to consider the Constitutionality of COPA and Media Coalition members joined an amicus brief with the Supreme Court.  On June 29, the Supreme Court upheld the preliminary injunction barring enforcement of the statute.  It did not, however, declare the law unconstitutional.  Instead, the case was sent back to the District Court for a trial to find whether the law was the least restrictive means of protecting children from Internet pornography, or if internet filters or other technology can provide the same protections for children while maintaining the First Amendment rights of adults.  The trial took place over four weeks in October of 2006.  Much of the trial focused on the technical aspects of how the Internet works.

On March 22, 2007, the U.S. District Court in Philadelphia again struck down the law.  In an opinion by U.S. District Court Judge Lowell Reed, Jr, the court found that: "(1) COPA is not narrowly tailored to the compelling interest of Congress; (2) defendant has failed to meet his burden of showing that COPA is the least restrictive and most effective alternative in achieving the compelling interest; and (3) COPA is impermissibly vague and overbroad."

On September 17, 2007 the government filed a brief in the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in their appeal of Judge Reed's ruling.  On October 29, 2007, Media Coalition members and a large group of amici including journalism and technology groups submitted an amicus brief in the Third Circuit Court of Appeals addressing First Amendment concerns and technological alternatives to the law.

This page was last updated November 29, 2007.