American Civil Liberties Union v. Reno
United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
217 F.3d 162 (2000)
- Written by Wesley Bernhardt , JD
Facts
A federal statute made it illegal to use a computer to transmit indecent or patently offensive content to minors over the internet. In the 1997 case Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union, the United States Supreme Court struck down the statute as unconstitutional. In response, Congress passed the Child Online Protection Act (COPA), which made it illegal to use a computer to transmit material designed to pander to the prurient interest applying contemporary community standards. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) (plaintiff) subsequently filed suit against United States Attorney General Janet Reno (defendant), contending that COPA’s contemporary-community-standards rule violated the First Amendment.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Garth, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 802,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.