supreme court OK's congressionally mandated censorship

["Hamaker, Chuck" <cahamake@email.uncc.edu>]

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/23/national/23CND-INTERNET.html
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NYTIMES 
Effort to Equip Libraries With Internet Filters Is Allowed
By JOEL BRINKLEY

WASHINGTON, June 23 - A divided Supreme Court ruled today that Congress
can require public libraries to equip computers with antipornography
filters, rejecting arguments from civil libertarians who said that that
infringes on free speech.

Congress passed the law, the Children's Internet Protection Act, in 2000,
but it did not take effect pending the legal challenge by public libraries
and civil liberties groups, which argued that any filter also
inadvertently blocks access to other, noncontroversial sites, as some
studies have shown.

But in a 6-3 ruling, the court said the law did not violate the First
Amendment guaranteeing free speech because libraries will have the
capability to disable the filters for any adult patron who may ask. Chief
Justice William H. Rehnquist wrote the majority opinion.

The law required libraries to equip their computers with filters as a
condition for receiving federal funds, and Chief Justice Rehnquist, wrote
that it "is a valid exercise of Congress' spending power," adding that
"Congress has wide latitude to attach conditions to the receipt of federal
assistance to further its policy objectives."

At least 14 million people use public libraries each year, and Justices
John Paul Stevens, David H. Souter and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, in opposing
the majority's ruling today, said the law goes too far.

Justice Stevens, writing for the minority, said the law is "a statutory
blunderbuss that mandates this vast amount of overblocking" and "abridges
the freedom of speech protected by the First Amendment."

The case, United States vs. American Library Association, brought together
a large number of free-speech advocates and others interested in blocking
governmental regulation of the Internet.

In a statement today, the library association expressed disappointment
with the ruling and said: "Forcing Internet filters on all library
computer users strikes at the heart of user choice in libraries and at the
libraries' mission of providing the broadest range of materials to diverse
users. Today's Supreme Court decision forces libraries to choose between
federal funding for technology improvements and censorship. Millions of
library users will lose."
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