American Civil Liberties Union v. Ashcroft (2002)
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- For other cases with the same name, see American Civil Liberties Union v. Ashcroft.
| ACLU v. Ashcroft<tr style="text-align: center;"><td colspan="2">Image:Seal of the United States Supreme Court.png Supreme Court of the United States</td></tr> | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Argued November 28, 2001 Decided May 13, 2002 | ||||||
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| Holding | ||||||
| The Court found provisions of the Child Online Protection Act (COPA) to be in violation of the free speech clause in the First Amendment. | ||||||
| Court membership | ||||||
| Chief Justice: William Rehnquist Associate Justices: John Paul Stevens, Sandra Day O'Connor, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, David Souter, Clarence Thomas, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer | ||||||
| Case opinions | ||||||
| Majority by: Thomas (parts I, II, IV) Joined by: Rehnquist, O'Connor, Scalia, Breyer Concurrence by: O'Connor Concurrence by: Breyer Concurrence by: Kennedy Joined by: Souter, Ginsburg Dissent by: Stevens <tr style="text-align: center; background: #6699FF;"><th colspan="2">Laws applied</tr></th><td>Child Online Protection Act</td> |
American Civil Liberties Union v. Ashcroft, 535 U.S. 564 (2002) (also called Ashcroft v. ACLU or Ashcroft v. American Civil Liberties Union) was a 2002 United States legal court case involving the American Civil Liberties Union and the United States government under the George W. Bush administration. The Bush administration was represented by then-Attorney General John Ashcroft. The Supreme Court of the United States decided the case, which began in 1999, and found provisions of the Child Online Protection Act (COPA) to be in violation of the free speech clause in the First Amendment. COPA was Congress' second attempt to criminalize the distribution of certain information over the Internet by prohibiting child pornography, including simulated pornography and artwork.
