United States v. American Library Association
| United States v. American Library Association | |
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| Argued March 5, 2003 Decided June 23, 2003 |
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| Full case name | United States, et al., Appellants v. American Library Association, Inc., et al. |
| Citations | 539 U.S. 194 (more) |
| Argument | Oral argument |
| Holding | |
| Congress has the authority to require libraries to censor internet content in order to receive federal funding. | |
| Court membership | |
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| Case opinions | |
| Majority | Rehnquist, joined by O'Connor, Scalia, Thomas |
| Concurrence | Kennedy |
| Concurrence | Breyer |
| Dissent | Stevens |
| Dissent | Souter, joined by Ginsburg |
United States v. American Library Association, 539 U.S. 194 (2003), was a decision in which the United States Supreme Court ruled that the United States Congress has the authority to require public schools and libraries receiving E-Rate discounts to install web filtering software as a condition of receiving federal funding. In a plurality opinion, the Supreme Court ruled that: 1.) public libraries' use of Internet filtering software does not violate their patrons' First Amendment free speech rights; 2.) The Children's Internet Protection Act is not unconstitutional.
The Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) was passed by Congress in 2000. CIPA required that in order to qualify for federal assistance for Internet access, public libraries must install software that blocked obscene or pornographic images, or other material which could be dangerous for minor children. The American Library Association, a group of public libraries, library associations, library patrons, and website publishers challenged this law. They claimed that it improperly required them to restrict the First Amendment rights of library patrons. The Court, in a decision written by Chief Justice Rehnquist, ruled on whether public libraries' use of Internet filtering software violated patrons' First Amendment rights.
The Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) is a federal law enacted by Congress to address concerns about access to offensive content over the Internet on school and library computers. CIPA imposed certain types of requirements on any school or library that receives funding under the E-rate program or Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grants, which subsidize internet technology and connectivity for schools and libraries. In early 2001, the FCC issued rules implementing CIPA.
In a plurality decision written by Chief Justice Rehnquist, the Supreme Court reversed the District Court's decision, and upheld the constitutionality of the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA), which requires public libraries receiving federal funds related to Internet access to install filtering devices on computer terminals that block a user's ability to view on-line pornography, as well as other obscenities that may be harmful to children. The Court reversed the judgment of the District Court that this content-based restriction on Internet speech was invalid on its face because available filtering devices "overblock" some constitutionally protected material, and thus do not meet the First Amendment's narrow tailoring requirement. The Supreme Court held that the public forum principles on which the district court relied are "out of place in the context of this case" and that Internet access in public libraries "is neither a 'traditional' nor a 'designated' public forum." A public forum is created when the government makes an affirmative choice to open up an area for use as a public forum. Libraries, however, do not acquire Internet terminals in order to "create a public forum for Web publishers to express themselves, any more than it collects books in order to provide a public forum for the authors of books to speak." The Court explained that the Internet is simply "another method for making information available in a school or library . . . [and is] no more than a technological extension of the book stack."
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