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U.S. SENATOR PATRICK
LEAHY
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CONTACT: Office of Senator
Leahy, 202-224-4242 |
VERMONT |
Reaction
Of Sen. Patrick Leahy
(Senate’s Sole Opponent Of COPA)
To The Supreme Court’s Decision
On The Child Online Protection Act
Tuesday, June 29, 2004
[Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt., ranking
Democratic member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, co-founder and
co-chair of the Congressional Internet Caucus) was the only
U.S. senator to vote against the Senate version of the Child Online
Protection Act (COPA) when the Senate passed it Oct. 7, 1998,
in a vote of 98 to 1. Leahy,
sometimes known as the “cyber senator” for his leadership on and enthusiasm
for internet issues, is also the Senate’s leading champion of internet
freedom and has pressed to prevent the imposition of discriminatory taxes
on online commerce. Leahy’s reaction to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision
in the COPA case follows:]
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“The Supreme Court’s ruling that the Child
Online Protection Act likely violates free speech rights echoes the doubts
expressed by some of us in Congress years ago when this legislation was
being considered. I opposed this law as being constitutionally flawed and
warned that it would have a difficult time withstanding judicial review
because Congress had failed to consider less restrictive means of
protecting children from harmful online materials, such as filtering
technology.
“Six years after this law was enacted, it has
done nothing to protect children online, while generating interminable
litigation that has already produced two Supreme Court decisions.
Meanwhile, as the Court noted, technology has continued to produce better
solutions than this law offers.
“The task before us is finding legislative
solutions that do not just lull parents into a false sense of security in
the short term, but that can withstand the test of time and the scrutiny of
the courts. The internet was born here, and the world watches closely
whenever we move to regulate it. Writing rules for the internet should be
done with particular care, and that did not happen with this law.”
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