Talk:Ashcroft v. American Civil Liberties Union

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Discrepancy regarding Justice Stevens[edit]

This page says that John Paul Stevens dissented against the majority opinion striking the law down, but his biography page (which links to this case) uses ACLU v. Ashcroft as an example of how he is a libertarian on First Amendment issues.Porce 09:44, 4 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

The majority opinion didn't strike the law down. On the contrary, Thomas wrote: "This case presents the narrow question whether the Child Online Protection Act's (COPA or Act) use of 'community standards' to identify 'material that is harmful to minors' violates the First Amendment. We hold that this aspect of COPA does not render the statute facially unconstitutional (emphasis added). And says the syllabus, "The Court, however, expresses no view as to whether COPA suffers from substantial overbreadth for reasons other than its use of community standards, whether the statute is unconstitutionally vague, or whether the statute survives strict scrutiny." Stevens was actually the only justice in this case who wanted to affirm the Third Circuit's affirmance of the district court's preliminary injunction of COPA on the Third Circuit's ground that "COPA's reliance on community standards to identify 'material that is harmful to minors' does not by itself render the statute substantially overbroad for purposes of the First Amendment" (maj. op.).
This article, then, is highly misleading if not in fact wrong. --zenohockey 02:51, 5 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Okay, I've made a start at fixing it. It needs expansion though. Perhaps your confusion, Porce, stems from the fact that in 2004, Ashcroft v. ACLU (whose WP article currently just redirects to COPA) did strike the law down, pending trial. --zenohockey 03:08, 5 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

i think this is the wrong ACLU v Ashcroft[edit]

ACLU v Ashcroft 2002 was a facial challenge where COPA was upheld. It wasn't until ACLU v Ashcroft 2004 that the law was struck down. See the COPA article. The summary for this article is right but the "Decision" section in the main body says that the court found it unconst, which it did not. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.104.105.43 (talk) 20:09, 15 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Wrong Holding of the Case[edit]

The Supreme Court did not hold that COPA was unconstitutional. Instead, the court stated that the use of the local community standard was not enough by itself to render COPA too broad (and thus violating the First Amendment). Directly from section IV of the opinion (which a majority of the justices agreed with):

"The scope of our decision today is quite limited. We hold only that COPA's reliance on community standards to identify "material that is harmful to minors" does not by itself render the statute substantially overbroad for purposes of the First Amendment. We do not express any view as to whether COPA suffers from substantial overbreadth for other reasons, whether the statute is unconstitutionally vague..." [1]

Furthermore, the page is misleading in only saying that the Supreme Court affirmed the injunction. The Government continued to be enjoined because they did not ask the Supreme Court to vacate the preliminary injunction. Again from the opinion:

"Petitioner does not ask us to vacate the preliminary injunction entered by the District Court, and in any event, we could not do so without addressing matters yet to be considered by the Court of Appeals. As a result, the Government remains enjoined from enforcing COPA absent further action by the Court of Appeals or the District Court." [2]

In the end, the Supreme Court vacated the judgement of the Third Circuit and remanded the case for further proceedings. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.32.142.239 (talk) 05:57, 1 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

References

  1. ^ Ashcroft v. ACLU, 535 U.S. 564, 585, 122 S. Ct. 1700, 1713. (For the full opinion: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/535/564/case.html)
  2. ^ Ashcroft v. ACLU, 535 U.S. 564, 586, 122 S. Ct. 1700, 1713-1714. (For the full opinion: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/535/564/case.html)

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