Reno v. ACLU

In a 7-2 decision, the Supreme Court on June 26, 1997, struck down two key provisions of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 (“CDA”) designed to protect minors from indecent and obscene material on the Internet. Writing for the Court, Justice Stevens noted that the Act’s restrictions amounted to content-based regulation, which invited the Court’s strict scrutiny. The Act suppresses a large amount of speech that adults have a right to send and receive.   While acknowledging the government’s legitimate interest in protecting children from potentially harmful materials, the Court found the means by which the government sought to advance this laudable interest overly broad.  Because the government failed to prove that the CDA was the least restrictive means of achieving the purposes of the Act, the Court concluded that the burden on adult speech was unacceptable. Moreover, the CDA’s use of such undefined terms as “indecent” and “patently offensive” would have a chilling effect on free speech because uncertainty as to the legal meaning of the terms would lead to self-censorship of otherwise permissible speech. In dissent, Justice O’Connor likened the CDA to a congressional effort to create “adult zones” on the Internet for unrestricted speech. The Court has upheld, in prior decisions, such conceptual line drawing in the form of zoning laws.

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Reno v. ACLU Decision - Stevens Opinion

Reno v. ACLU Decision - O'Connor Opinion