Justice Department Defends COPA

Civil liberties groups challenged the law in court as infringing on free speech.

Nancy Weil, IDG News Service

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The Justice Department filed the appeal on Friday, which was the last possible day. A number of civil liberties and privacy watchdog groups opposed COPA as too expansive. Foes included the American Civil Liberties Union, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

The act is intended to protect minor children from having access to Internet material considered harmful to them. The ACLU and other plaintiffs contend that the law would violate the U.S. Constitution by restricting speech that is protected for adults.

Congress approved COPA last year. Ironically, the Justice Department filed testimony expressing concern about some aspects of the bill, including vague wording, questionable constitutionality, and criminal penalties. Some dubbed COPA the "CDA II," citing the Communications Decency Act, which Congress approved two years ago and the U.S. Supreme Court nullified in part as unconstitutional.

U.S. District Judge Lowell Reed ruled in favor of the plaintiffs after a six-day hearing earlier this year, and that ruling blocked enforcement of COPA. The case would have gone to a trial had the government not appealed Reed's decision, the ACLU said. An appellate court will now hear arguments.

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