A Vermont law aimed at stopping Internet crimes against children went too far when it was used to stop a nonprofit group and the American Civil Liberties Union from publishing information about sexuality on the Internet, the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals ruled August 27.
"We find that (the law) violated the First Amendment because it burdens protected communications and is not narrowly tailored," wrote Chief Judge John M. Walker, "and violates the dormant Commerce Clause as a matter of law because it projects Vermont's regulatory regime onto the rest of the nation."
Vermont Assistant Attorney General Joseph L. Winn told reporters it wasn't certain the state would appeal the ruling.
The appeals court upheld a lower federal court ruling that the law in question was unconstitutional on the same grounds. The ACLU and the Sexual Health Network had sued to stop the 2000 law from blocking sexually-related information regarding people with disabilities, illness, and "lifestyle changes," as one report put it.
The law was signed by Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, now running actively for the Democratic presidential nomination, and prohibits distribution of sexually explicit materials to minors. The Sexual Health Network and the ACLU's Vermont chapter sued to stop the law's enforcement in February 2001.
The appeals court rejected the state's argument that the law could only be enforced against "person to person" Internet communication "because it is only in (those) circumstances that the sender will have 'actual knowledge' that the recipient is a minor," and that the state wasn't looking to block informational Web materials like the Sexual Health Network's and ACLU's materials on things like birth control, safe sex, gay rights, and sex education.
