U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft
Petitioner
Theodore B. Olson, Solicitor GeneralThe U.S. Congress passed the Child Online Protection Act (COPA) in 1998, making it unlawful to post material that is "harmful to minors" for commercial purposes on the World Wide Web without taking good faith steps to prevent children from obtaining access to such material. The law relies on "community standards" to determine what is or isn’t harmful to minors, and makes exceptions for material that has serious value for minors. A group led by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed suit against the United States and the office of the Attorney General, alleging that…
