EFF, ACLU, et al. v. Dept. of Justice (ACLU v. Reno)
- current
- link to the latest news (updated frequently to point to he
most-recently-added case update).
- 19970626_eff_cda.announce
- EFF press release on Supreme Court ruling
against Communications Decency Act, lauding the ruling as a major
victory for free speech, and looking at some of the main points of
the ruling, such as the courts finding that the CDA would figuratively
"torch a large segment of the Internet community."
- 19970626_spa_rsac_cda.announce
- Software Publishers Assoc. and
Recreational Software Advisory Council press release giving industry
perspective on Supreme Court ruling against the Communications Decency
Act. The trade groups applaud the ruling and advance private-sector
solutions to the issue of parental control over children's online
experience.
- 19970626_wh_cda.announce
- White House press release about the Supreme
Court ruling against the Communications Decency Act. Administration says
it stands behind enforcement of laws against distribution of online
obscenity and child porn (material that has no constitutional
protection, in other words) - a postion most believe the Admin. should
have taken originally instead of backing the CDA.
- 19970626_cda.decision
- Unanimous US Supreme Court decision striking down
the Communications Decency Act as an unconstitutional violation of the
First Amendment.
- 19970624_cda_rally.announce
- June 24 announcement of a San Francisco free
speech rally on the day of the Supreme Court decision in the
Communications Decency Act case.
- 19961206_cda_supct_acceptance.announce
- News release - Supreme Court
announces it will hear the appeal of ACLU v. Reno (the Philadelphia
anti-CDA constitutional challenge). While this does not indicate any
predisposition of the Court to rule one way or the other, it is a good
sign. Many cases challenging indecency regulation in broadcasting have
met with the Supreme Court declining to hear the cases.
- 199612.schedule
- Briefing Schedule for Supreme Court Appeal of CDA
Constitutionality Challenge (ACLU v. Reno, ALA v. DoJ merged case), as
of Dec. 1996
- 960612_eff_cda_decision.statement
- EFF statement on anti-censorship
ruling in CDA case.
- 960612_aclu_v_reno.decision
- Landmark decision in the ACLU v. Reno
challenge to the Communications Decency Act. 3-judge panel rules CDA
unconstitutional, issues injuntion against enforcement. Judges say Net
deserves "at least as much protection" for free speech as print media!
HTML version available at:
http://www.eff.org/pub/Censorship/Exon_bill/HTML/960612_aclu_v_reno_decision.html
- 960612_frc_cda_decision.statement
- Family Research Council's insulting
and weak response to the CDA decision, in which they label the court
"arrogant" and "ACLU-hand-picked" (which is an impossibility, as
plaintiffs get the judges that are assigned to them, and do not have an
opportunity to pick and choose.) The sheer animal rage in this press
release so clouded their copyediting skills that the statement closes with
nonesense phrases like "We should not squander the opportunity to examine
and appreciate a world where pornography knows no bounds."
- 960612_exon_cda_decision.statement
- CDA originator Sen. James Exon's
press release on the CDA court ruling. Like the FRC statement, Exon's
is incredibly weak. As usual Exon seems entirely unable to recognize
the clear legal fact that "indecency" does not mean "pornography",
or the equally clear legal fact that Supreme Court rulings on "indecency"
are extremely medium-dependent, and cannot be generalized to cover all
media.
- 960612_ciec.update
- CIEC Trial Update and statement on the anti-CDA court
ruling
- 960612_efg_cda_decision.statement
- EF-Georgia statement on anti-censorship
ruling in CDA case.
- 960605_godwin.update
- Mike Godwin (EFF Staff Counsel) analysis of
the final oral arguements (on May 12).
- 960516_ciec.update
- CIEC case update: Court Orders DOJ to Halt "Reviews"
Under the CDA; Transcripts from All 6 days of Court Testimony Now Online
- 960516_ciec_cis_fbi.announce
- CIEC press release regarding CDA case
judges' injunction against investigations of CDA violation, spurred
by FBI "reviewing" CompuServe at the behest of theocratic pro-censorship
organizations. NOTE: This is not the injunction at the plaintiffs are
seeking in this case, but a temporary injunction pending the courts'
decision on plaintiff's motion for a long-term injunction.
- 960515_cis_fbi.order
- Court order placing an injuction upon FBI (or
any other) investigations of CDA-related complaints until and unless
the judges issue a ruling favorable to the government (sparked by FBI
investigation of CompuServe for CDA violation, against orders of court
and the DoJ's own agreements).
- 960513_mccullagh.update
- The DoJ's flimsy, cheesy, flawed defense; Judges
question DoJ investigation of CompuServe; "The Newspaper Decency Act"?
- 960512_ciec.update
- CIEC case update: Hearings Conclude in CDA Challenge;
Decision Expected Soon; A Newspaper Decency Act?
- 960511_johnson_cda_case.analysis
- Craig A. Johnson, _American_Reporter_
correspondent, analyzes the CDA testimony in Phildelphia: "As
government lawyers headed off into the foggy Philadelphia
afternoon, the words of Judge Stewart Dalzell in Federal court here
yesterday still rang in the minds of courtroom observers: In order to
preserve the Internet 'as the most democratic medium that the human
mind has come up with yet, a chilling effect is something we have to
consider' as the panel rules on the CDA..."
- 960510_aclu.update
- ACLU's May 10 trial update: plaintiffs succeeded in
making three essential points to the court - 1) The Communications
Decency Act is a criminal statute with criminal penalties; 2) The law is
aimed specifically at speech that is constitutionally protected; 3) The
government's tagging scheme would force every American to censor
him/herself to avoid risk of criminal prosecution.
- 960510_plaintiffs_closing_args.transcript
- EFF/ACLU & ALA/CIEC plaintiffs'
closing arguments (144K)
- 960510_defendant_closing_args.transcript
- govt. defendant's closing
arguments (211K)
- 960510_plaintiff_rebuttal.transcript
- EFF/ACLU short rebuttal to
defendant (government) closing arguments.
- 960510_court.transcript
- full text of court transcript, May 10 1996 (~380K)
- mccullagh_051096.update
- From the Netly News: Declan McCullagh's May
10 dispatch from the Philadelphia courtroom on the last day of the
hearing. The judges were decidedly unsympathetic to the DoJers --
McCullagh offers 3:1 odds against the CDA.
- 960508_aclu.update
- Under questioning from the judges, both of the
government witnesses testified that they understood "indecent" or
"patently offensive" to include politcal speech and non-explicit images.
- 960429_ala_post-hearing.brief
- ALA Plaintiffs' post-hearing brief in
support of motion for preliminary injunction. Abstract: "...the CDA
effectively bans an enormous quantity of speech that is constitutionally
protected for adults, because the "safe harbor" defenses provided in the
Act do not provide technologically or economically feasible
means... Defendants, in response, have attempted to avoid consideration
of the CDA's actual impact on plaintiffs' speech, because they cannot
justify that actual impact in view of the long line of Supreme Court
precedents holding that government is not permitted to reduce the
adult population to reading and viewing only what is appropriate
for children. Yet that is precisely what Congress did here,
and that is why the CDA must be enjoined."
- doj_antiporn_042996_briefs.excerpts
- Excerpts from DoJ and anti-porn groups'
April 29 briefs, typed in by Declan McCullagh.
- doj_afa_960429.letter
- Department of Justice letter responding to the
American Family Association request for an investigation of CompuServe
- 960415_ciec.update
- CIEC case update: Testimony Concludes in CDA Legal
Challenge: Government Only Calls Two Witnesses, Closing Arguments Set
for May 10
- 960415_aclu.update
- Government Witness: Censor First, Ask Questions Later;
Plaintiffs Waive Rebuttal of Government Testimony; Oral Arguments
Moved Up to Friday, May 10th
- 960415_olsen.testimony
- Testimony of govt. "expert" witness, Dan Olsen (180K)
- 960415_closing_args.transcript
- transcript of closing arguments of both
sides (34K)
- 960415_court.transcript
- full text of court transcript, Apr. 15 1996 (~220K)
- 960413_ciec.update
- CIEC case update: Government Argues CDA is Necessary
and Not Overly Restrictive; Government Witness Proposes Content
Labeling Standard; SurfWatch Blocks Government "Expert"
- 960412_olsen.testimony
- testimony of Dr. Daniel Olsen (government
"expert" witness of questionable relevance or expertise).
- 960412_vezza.testimony
- testimony of Dr. Albert Vezza (MIT/WWW
Consortium expert witness for ALA/CIEC plaintiffs)
- 960412_schmidt.testimony
- testimony of Howard Schmidt, Air Force
Office of Special Investigations, government (defendant) witness
- 960412_court.transcript
- full text of court transcript, Apr. 12 1996 (~480K)
- 960411_ciec.update
- CIEC case update: Pre-Trial Update - Government To
Present Its Defense of CDA Beginning Friday April 12; List of Government
Witnesses Expected to Testify; Schedule for Remainder of Trial; Transcripts
of the Frist Two Days of Testimony Now Online!
- mccullagh_040996.update
- Declan McCullagh's April 9, 1996
dispatch on the Cherry v. Reno case and the DoJ's unethical
inclusion of the Rimm study.
- 960404_aclu.update
- Government Calls Two Witnesses - MIT Expert Will
Testify for Plaintiffs on PICS Standards
- 960401_aclu.update
- Plaintiff's witnesses testify: Bill Burrington (AOL),
Stephen Donaldson (Stop Prisoner Rape), Andrew Anker (HotWired),
Howard Rheingold (author), Barry Steinhardt (ACLU)
- ciec_040196.update
- Trial update - more EFF/ACLU/CIEC/ALA/CDT testimony
& DoJ cross-examination. (Despite the date, it's for real. Not an
April fool posting. :-)
- 960401_burrington.testimony
- testimony of William Burrington (AOL
director of public policy), plaintiffs' witness (162K)
- 960401_donaldson.testimony
- testimony of Stephen Donaldson, president
of Stop Prisoner Rape, plaintiff's witness (10K)
- 960401_rheingold.testimony
- testimony of author Howard Rheingold,
plaintiff's witness; Rheingold testifies about virtual community, and
the CDA's likely effect upon it. (66K)
- 960401_steinhardt.testimony
- testimony of Barry Steinhardt, associate
director of plaintiff ACLU.
- 960401_court.transcript
- full text of court transcript, Apr. 1 1996 (~350K)
- 960329_aclu.update
- Brief look at upcoming witnesses
- ciec_032296.update
- Trial update - more EFF/ACLU/CIEC/ALA/CDT testimony
& DoJ cross-examination.
- 960322_aclu.update
- In the first two days of trial in the battle for free
speech in cyberspace, a three-judge panel heard testimony from plaintiffs
who fear censorship under the new telecommunications law and took a
first-ever live courtroom tour of the Internet.
- 960322_hoffman.testimony
- Testimony of Donna Hoffman, professor,
Vanderbilt University, for plaintiffs (170K)
- 960322_croneberger.testimony
- Testimony of Robert Croneberger,
director, Carnegie Library, for plaintiffs (45K)
- 960322_bradner.testimony
- Testimony of Scott Bradner, Internet
Engineering Task Force, for plaintiffs (94K)
- 960322_court.transcript
- full text of court transcript, Feb. 22 1996 (~315K)
- 960321_aclu.briefing
- Background briefing: The case, the judges, the
witnesses, and the testimony.
- 960321_witness.list
- preliminary plaintiff witness list for Mar. 21,
Mar. 22, and Apr. 1
- 960321_bradner.testimony
- Testimony of Scott Bradner, Internet
Engineering Task Force, for plaintiffs (170K)
- 960321_duvall.testimony
- Testimony of Ann Duvall, President of
Surfwatch, for plaintiffs (120K)
- 960321_kuromiya.testimony
- Testimony of Kiyoshi Kuromiya, Director of
Critical AIDS Path Project, for plaintiffs (30K)
- 960321_warren.testimony
- Testimony of Patricia Nell Warren, publisher,
Wildcat Press, for plaintiffs (13K)
- 960321_stayton.testimony
- Testimony of Dr. William R. Stayton, psychologist,
for plaintiffs
- 960321_court.transcript
- full text of court transcript, Feb. 21 1996 (~420K)
- 960207-960321_case.timeline
- chronology of the case to date
- ciec_1st032196.update
- Pre-trial update: Declarations of
CIEC/EFF/ALA/ACLU/CDT side's witnesses
- ciec_2nd032196.update
- Afternoon trial update: Live from the courtroom;
CIEC/EFF/ALA/ACLU/CDT side demonstrates what the Net and content
filtration are and how they work.
- ciec_3rd032196.update
- Evening trial update: more on
net/filtration-related testimony, and testimony on threats to small
online service providers.
- 960320_amici.brief
- Amici curiae brief in support of plaintiffs -
numerous organizations and individuals illustrate in detail why
the CDA is overbroad.
- ciec_031996.update
- Pre-trial update: what to expect from the 3-judge
appellate court hearings.
- ala_030196_injunction.brief
- Brief in support of an injunction against
enforcement of the CDA. ALA and other plaintiffs rip the CDA to shreds.
- 960301_cdt_ciec.announce
- CDT newsletter announcement of Citizens'
Internet Empowerment Coalition request for CDA injunction, and case update
- ciec.factsheet
- Citizens Internet Empowerment Coalition Litigation Fact
Sheet. Includes list of CIEC member organizations and named plaintiffs;
does not, of course, include list of all 40,000+ individual members!
(Mar. 96)
- ala_cdt_ciec_022696.complaint
- Complaint filed by Center for Democracy &
Technology, the Citizen's Internet Empowerment Coalition, People for the
American Way, Freedom to Read Foundation, American Library Assoc.,
American Booksellers Assoc., American Soc. of Newspaper Editors, Assoc.
of American Publishers, and many other organizations, as well as
Wired/HotWired, Apple Computer, the Commercial Internet Exchange, and
numerous online services (with the CIEC representing over 30,000 individual
online service users.) This lawsuit, like the EFF/ACLU suit with which
it was merged in Mar. 1996, challenges the constitutionality of the
Communications Decency Amendment of the Telecommunications Reform Act of
1996.
- 960226_cdt_ciec.announce
- CDT newsletter announcement of formation of
Citizens' Internet Empowerment Coalition to fight CDA in court.
- 960223_aclu.update
- ACLU case update: Government Agrees Not to
Investigate or Prosecute Internet "Indecency" Until Three-Judge Court
Rules on Case
- amrep_021696_tro.statement
- _American_Reporter_ comment on the issuance
of the TRO in the ACLU/EFF/et al. v. DoJ case. Somewhat caustic, as
AR does not appear to be protected by the TRO. AR has filed a separate
lawsuit challenging the CDA.
- buckwalter_cda_960215.decision
- Judge Buckwalter's decision granting a TRO
enjoining enforcement of the "indecency" (but not anti-abortion-info
or "patent offensiveness") censorship restriction in the Telecom bill,
until a 3-judge panel has time to review plaintiffs request for a long
term preliminary injunction against *all* of these provisions. The judge
agreed that the indecency restrictions are unconstitional and pose an
imminent threat, but did not seem to feel this way, for some reason,
about the other provisions. A vital, but only partial, victory for free
speech in one battle of what will be along war.
- 960215_aclu.update
- ACLU case update: Judge Grants Temporary Restraining
Order on Indecency Provisions; Partial Victory, But Netizens Beware
- 960214_doj_opposition.brief
- Defendant's Opposition to Plaintiff's
Motion for a Temporary Restraining Order (The Department of Justice's
Response to the ACLU's Request for temporary blockage of CDA enforcement.)
(100K)
- 960209_doj_gore.letter
- Dept. of Justice letter to Al Gore (in his less
visible capacity as President of the Senate). This gist: "This is to
inform you that the Department of Justice will not defend
the constitutionality of the abortion-related speech provision of 1462
in those cases, in light of the Department's longstanding policy to
decline to enforce...abortion-related speech prohibitions...
because they are unconstitutional under the First Amendment."
- eff-aclu_020896.complaint
- the full text of the ACLU/EFF/+others
complaint (lawsuit) filed Feb. 8, 1996 to challenge the Comms. Decency
section of the '96 Telecom Reform Act, on constitutionality grounds.
- eff-aclu_020896_tro.brief
- Plaintiff's memorandum of law in support of a
motion for temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction.
- epic_cda_020896.affidavit
- Affidavit in support of motion for temporary
restraining order and preliminary injunction, from Electronic Privacy
Info. Center's Marc Rotenberg.
- 960208_aclu.update
- ACLU case update: Judge Sets Date for Government to
File Reply Brief; Government Agrees Not to Prosecute for 7 days
- 960208_aclu_cda_suit.announce
- ACLU's press release about the filing of
the ACLU/EFF/et al. constitutional challenge against the CDA.
- aclu_020796_cda_suit.statement
- American Civil Liberties Union press
release regarding the EFF/ACLU/EPIC/et al. suit challenging the CDA on
Constitutional grounds
- eff-aclu_cda_lawsuit_020796.alert
- EFF press release regarding the
important lawsuit filed Feb. 8, 1996 challenging the constitutionality of
the 1996 Telecom Bill's "Communications Decency" amendment, and seeking
an injunction against enforcement of this terrible new law until the case
as a whole is decided.
- epic_020796_cda_suit.statement
- Electronic Privacy Info. Center's press
release regarding the EFF/ACLU/EPIC/et al. suit challenging the CDA on
Constitutional grounds.
- plaintiffs.list
- list of plaintiffs in EFF/ACLU case, with descriptions
(excerpted from the complaint). Does NOT include plaintiffs in the
CIEC/CDT/ALA case, which has been merged with the EFF/ACLU case. See
the CIEC/CDT/ALA complaint for those plaintiffs. (Feb. 7 1996)
- 960201_aclu_cda_suit.statement
- ACLU Denounces Passage of Telecom Bill
and Prepares to Challenge Online Censorship Provisions
- 951206_aclu_cda_suit.announce
- ACLU Announces Plans to Challenge Online
Censorship Provisions; Says That House Conference Vote Leaves No Other
Options
Related On-Site Resources
- Full text of the
ACLU v. Reno (and ALA v. DoJ) case decision, upholding free speech in
cyberspace
- (HTML edition by Bob Bickford.)
- EFF "American Reporter v. Dept. of
Justice (Shea v. Reno)" Archive
- EFF "CRLP v. Dept. of
Justice (Sanger v. Reno)" Archive
- EFF "Communications Decency
Act" Archive
Links to Related Off-Site Resources
- Another
fully HTMLized version of the ruling
- (Provided by Jim Robinson)
- Very
handy summary and analysis of the CDA unconstitutionality decision in the
PA federal court (June 12, 1996)
- (Prepared by EPIC.)
- ACLU WWW Site
-
EPIC's archive on this case
- CIEC web site
- Telecom
Act Litigation from Schnader, Harrison Segal & Lewis
- a law firm
which filed an amicus brief in support of plaintiffs.
