פסיקה של בית המשפט העליון בארה"ב בנושא פרסומי תועבה באי

National Coalition for Sexual Freedom

Contact:
Susan Wright, NCSF Spokesperson
(917) 848-6544

Supreme Court Decision in the Communications Decency Act (CDA)

March 20, 2006 - Washington D.C. b Today the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed
the
Federal District Court's decision in Barbara Nitke and NCSF v. Alberto
Gonzales,
the challenge to the Communications Decency Act, #01 CIV 11476 (RMB). The
Supreme
Court has affirmed the lower court's decision without hearing oral
arguments,
sending a clear signal that the court will not protect free speech rights
when it
comes to sexually explicit materials.

The NCSF and Nitke lawsuit was successful in weakening the Miller standard
of
judging obscenity: the District Court for the Southern District of NY made a
factual finding that the SLAPS prong of Miller does not provide protection
against
prosecution as it was intended to do. The Miller decision (1973) stated that
materials were constitutionally protected if the work, taken as a whole,
has "serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value." However
the
District court accepted evidence from NCSF and Nitke that prosecutors and
juries in
more restrictive communities are less likely to extend protection to
artistic and
literary materials that are outside the mainstream of traditional sexuality.

"We have proven that Miller does not work," says Susan Wright, Spokesperson
for
NCSF. "But the Supreme Court has declined to strike it down at this time.
That
means every website on the Internet can be judged by the most repressive
local
community standards in the U.S."

The Supreme Court decision shows the importance of supporting NCSF, one of
the few
organizations proactively fighting obscenity laws. The CDA makes it a crime
to post
obscenity on the Internet because those materials may be viewed by children.
NCSF
and Nitke believe that adults should have the right to post and view
sexually
explicit materials involving consenting adults on the Internet.

"We knew that the Bush administration was laying its plans to prosecute
sexually
explicit material on the Internet," says John Wirenius, attorney for the
plaintiffs. "By filing our lawsuit in 2001, we may have slowed the Justice
Department from prosecuting obscenity in 2002-3, but the number of obscenity
prosecutions has steadily increased ever since. We believe in fighting this
battle
and we took our fight all the way to the Supreme Court."

"I think we've achieved a great victory in drawing attention to how
politicized our
judicial system has become," says co-plaintiff Barbara Nitke, a fine art
photographer who explores sexual relationships in her work. "Our obscenity
laws are
outmoded, especially in conjunction with the Internet. We've made a huge
dent in
how obscenity will be judged in the future, and I hope others will now stand
up and
continue to fight against repressive laws like this."

NCSF and Barbara Nitke would like to thank everyone who contributed to fund
this
important lawsuit, as well as the many dedicated witnesses and lawyers who
assisted
in bringing this case to court. In particular, NCSF and Nitke thank John
Wirenius
for his outstanding efforts in this case and his dedication to First
Amendment
rights. NCSF intends to continue the fight against obscenity laws in the
U.S.

National Coalition for Sexual Freedom - www.ncsfreedom.org
Barbara Nitke - www.barbaranitke.com

###

A project of NCSF

The National Coalition for Sexual Freedom is a national organization
committed to
creating a political, legal, and social environment in the United States
that
advances equal rights of consenting adults who practice forms of alternative
sexual
expression. NCSF is primarily focused on the rights of consenting adults in
the SM-
leather-fetish, swing, and polyamory communities, who often face
discrimination
because of their sexual expression.

National Coalition for Sexual Freedom
822 Guilford Avenue, Box 127
Baltimore, MD 21202-3707
410-539-4824
media@ncsfreedom.org
www.ncsfreedom.org

Please cross-post


POSTED BY:

Master Z

National Coalition for Sexual Freedom





NCSF Board of Directors and
Coalition Partner Representative
_http://www.ncsfreedom.org/_ (http://www.ncsfreedom.org/)