PHILADELPHIA — On March 22, a federal judge in Philadelphia struck down a federal law that prohibits commercial Web sites from making sexually explicit material available to children under the age of 17. In permanently blocking enforcement of the Child Online Protection Act (COPA), Judge Lowell Reed Jr. ruled the 1998 law violated the First Amendment, which guarantees freedom of speech.
It marked the second time Reed has ruled on COPA, having issued a preliminary injunction against its enforcement in 1999. The case worked its way to the Supreme Court, where the justices voted 5–4 in 2004 to uphold the injunction. They also ordered the case to return to the federal court for a full trial.
The case, ACLU v. Gonzales, could return to the high court, where chances for a reversal appear remote. Two new justices, Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Samuel Alito, have joined the court since 2004, but those they replaced — the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Associate Justice Sandra Day O’Connor — both dissented in the earlier decision. Therefore there would be no gain on the court for supporters of the law, unless another justice changes his vote.
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