The amicus brief to be filed Friday: http://www.politechbot.com/docs/copa.congress.072501.html Politech archive on the Child Online Protection Act law and lawsuit: http://www.politechbot.com/cgi-bin/politech.cgi?name=copa Supreme Court agrees to hear case: http://www.politechbot.com/p-02048.html Federal judge rules that COPA violates First Amendment: http://www.politechbot.com/p-00217.html Note from Bruce Taylor <BruceTaylorat_private>, who drafted the brief: >(we made changes to the cover and page 1 on Interest of Amici, since Senator >Coats cannot be an amicus because of his nomination to be Ambassador to >Germany) > >Attached is a corrected final Brief of Members of Congress in Ashcroft v >ACLU, No. 00-1293, to be filed Friday, July 27th, instead of tomorrow. > >We renamed it "COPA final USSC Cong amicus brief 7-27-01" > >Transmissions scrambled some formatting and we had to re-justify the margins >and re-send to the printer. This one should be fully justified, but >otherwise same text. If you copy or post, please use this one, which will >look like the printed one filed with the Court (hopefully). -Declan *********** http://www.politechbot.com/docs/copa.congress.072501.html Summary Of Argument The Court of Appeals committed clear error in its refusal to narrowly construe the Child Online Protection Act's definition of "Harmful To Minors," 47 U.S.C. § 231 (e)(6), within a constitutionally valid scope and lend the necessary authoritative construction intended by Congress as a limitation on the test for what is "Obscene For Minors" to a constitutionally valid, non-geographic "adult" age community standard, rather than an unconstitutionally territorial geographic community standard. ACLU v. Reno, 217 F.3d 162, 173-78 (3d Cir. 2000), reh. denied (2000). Congress enacted COPA with specific recognition of this Court's mandate that the application of obscenity-related tests for separating pornography that may be regulated from First Amendment protected speech depends on the medium. FCC v. Pacifica Foundation, 438 U.S. 726, 750 (1978). The Congressional intent expressed in its Report of the House Committee on Commerce, H. Rept. No. 105-775, at 28 (1998) (House Report to accompany H.R. 3783, 105th Cong., 2d Sess.), was that COPA was to be adapted to the World Wide Web by using a "new" standard of what the American adult-age community as a whole would find prurient and offensive for minors in the probable recipient age group. The Third Circuit refused to adopt this Congressionally intended customization of the "harmful to minors" test and, by such refusal, interpreted the Act in an unconstitutional fashion. ACLU, 217 F.3d at 178. By doing so, that Court, as had the District Court below, failed in its duty to properly construe this federal statute so as to save it for valid application within constitutional boundaries. For these reasons, this Court should reverse the decision of the Court of Appeals, and remand the cause to the Third Circuit for a narrowing authoritative construction to guide the District Court in the trial on the merits. Remainder at: http://www.politechbot.com/docs/copa.congress.072501.html ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. To subscribe, visit http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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