Ashcroft v.

American Civil Liberties Union

Facts:
Child Online Protection Act prohibits any person from knowingly and with knowledge of the
character of the material, in interstate or foreign commerce by means of the World Wide Web,
making any communication for commercial purposes that is available to any minor and that
includes any material that is harmful to minors.
Issues:
WON the Child Online Protection Acts use of community standards to identify material that
is harmful to minors violates the First Amendment [NO]
WON the community standards test is inapplicable since web publishers are without the ability
to control the geographic scope of the recipients of their communications [NO]
WON the community standards test is inapplicable since there are various communities with
varying perspectives on the obscenity or non-obscenity of the material [NO]
Ratio:
COPA is constitutional because it adapted the criteria set in Miller v. California in defining
material that is harmful to minors:
(a) contemporary community standards appealing to the prurient interest
(b) lewd exhibition of genitals/simulated sex patently offensive with respect to minors
(c) taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors
Absent geographic specification, a juror applying community standards will inevitably
draw upon personal knowledge of the community or vicinage from which he comes. It is
sufficient to note that community standards need not be defined by reference to a precise
geographic area. The serious value requirement allows appellate courts to impose some
limitations and regularity on the definition by setting, as a matter of law, a national floor for
socially redeeming value.
If the audience is comprised of different communities with different local standards, the
defendant bears the burden of complying with the prohibition on obscene messages.
Because Congress has narrowed the range of content restricted by COPA in a manner analogous
to Millers definition of obscenity, we conclude that any variance caused by the statutes reliance
on community standards is not substantial enough to violate the First Amendment.