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C-SPAN Radio

Special Series on the First Amendment

C-SPAN Radio's Supreme Court Historic Oral Argument: Reno v. ACLU (1997)

Freedom of Speech and the Internet

Washington, DC
Saturday, May 7, 2011

C‑SPAN Radio begins its special series of historic oral arguments from four key First Amendment cases with a 1997 case on freedom of speech and the Internet: “Attorney General Janet Reno, et al v. American Civil Liberties Union, et al.”

In this case, the ACLU represented several litigants who challenged the constitutionality of two provisions in the 1996 Communications Decency Act (CDA).

The law was intended to protect minors from unsuitable Internet material, thus it criminalized the intentional transmission of "obscene or indecent" messages as well as the transmission of information which depicts or describes "sexual or excretory activities or organs" in a manner deemed "offensive" by community standards.

A District Court found in favored the ACLU and prohibited the Justice Department from enforcing these provisions, except for the one concerning obscenity and its protection against child pornography. Attorney General Janet Reno then appealed directly to the U.S. Supreme Court as provided for by the act's special review provisions.

Updated: Friday, May 6, 2011 at 4:01pm (ET)

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