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Supreme Court upholds ruling
mandating library porn filters
By Jan Crawford Greenburg
Chicago Tribune (KRT)
WASHINGTON — In a key First
Amendment case that pitted free
speech rights of adults against the gov
ernment's interest in protecting chil
dren, the Supreme Court upheld a fed
eral law Monday that requires libraries
accepting federal funds to install anti
pornography filtering software on
computers used by the public.
The court, by a 6-3 vote, said the
Children's Internet Protection Act was
a reasonable response to concerns
that children could see indecent ma
terial on computers in public libraries.
But the case produced no majority
opinion, and two justices wrote sepa
rately to emphasize that libraries
should turn off the filtering system if
adults ask.
Justice Anthony Kennedy, one of
the court's most ardent protectors of
free speech rights, said "there is little
to this case" if a librarian will un
block filtered material "without sig
nificant delay."
"The interest in protecting young li
brary users from material inappropri
ate for minors is legitimate," Kennedy
wrote. "Given this interest, and the
failure to show that the ability of adult
library users to have access to the ma
terial is burdened in any significant
degree, the statute is not unconstitu
tional on its face."
Justice Stephen Breyer, in another
opinion, said that "given the compar
atively small burden" the art imposes
on adult library patrons, the impor
tant objectives of the law outweighed
any First Amendment concern.
Chief Justice William Rehnquist, in
his plurality opinion joined by three
other justices, would have gone fur
ther, holding that Congress had au
thority to impose the conditions on
libraries that take federal money.
"Especially because public libraries
have traditionally excluded porno
graphic material from their other col
lections, Congress could reasonably
impose a parallel limitation on its In
ternet assistance programs," Rehn
quist wrote, in an opinion joined by
Justices Sandra Day O'Connor, An
tonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas.
Supporters of the law hailed the de
cision. Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of
the American Center for Law and Jus
tice, which filed papers supporting the
law, said the ruling was a "break
through in regulating Internet
pornography."
Opponents had argued the law
was too broad because the filtering
software blocked thousands of legit
imate Web sites, including those on
political candidates and those pro
viding medical information. They
emphasized that Monday's decision
was a narrow one.
"Justices Kennedy and Breyer
joined the judgment because they be
lieve adult patrons need only ask the
librarian to 'please disable the filter'
and need not provide any reason for
the request," said Judith Krug, direc
tor of the American Library Associa
tion's Office for Intellectual Freedom.
"In light of this, we expect libraries
that decide they must accept filters to
inform their patrons how easily the
filters can be turned off."
Paul Smith, a Washington lawyer,
who represented the association and
others challenging the law, said the
ruling would infringe on adults' free
speech rights because it would deter
them from asking to have the filters
turned off.
Moreover, as dissenting justices
made clear, the law does not require
libraries to turn filters off on request,
despite the suggestions of Kennedy
and Breyer. The law provides that the
filters can be disabled only for
"bona fide research or other
lawful purposes."
Justice David Souter, in a dissent
joined by Justice Ruth Bader Gins
burg, said unblocking Web sites for
adult use could take days or may be
unavailable in smaller branch li
braries that are not as well staffed as
main libraries. Souter said the filtering
requirement, which limits access, was
the same as if a library were "buying
an encyclopedia and then cutting out
pages with anything thought to be
unsuitable for all adults."
As a result of the decision, all public
libraries that accept federal money
must install the software. But Smith
and others said the opinions by
Kennedy and Breyer also mean li
braries must be careful to make it easy
for adults to have the software dis
abled.
(c) 2003, Chicago Tribune. Distributed
by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information
Services.
Bush, Dems claim court victory
By Bob Kemper
Chicago Tribune (KRT)
Analysis
WASHINGTON — Democrats
hailed Monday's Supreme Court rul
ings on affirmative action as a politi
cal blow to President Bush and his
hopes for re-election in 2004.
But with Bush declaring the rulings
a victory and
Americans' at
tention focused
on the econo
my and security,
political activists and analysts said any
fallout for Bush would be much more
limited and short-lived.
Bush's Justice Department had filed
a brief in two affirmative action cases
involving the University of Michigan,
urging the Supreme Court to strike
down the school's race-conscious ad
missions policies, which the adminis
tration called "disguised quotas."The
court Monday ruled that race can have
a part to play in admissions.
Several of the nine Democratic
presidential contenders vowed to
challenge the president's position on
the issue. Other Democrats jumped
on the rulings as evidence that Bush is
a captive of the Republican Party's
right wing and out of step with main
stream America.
"It is unconscionable that the Bush
administration would have moved to
resegregate the nation against its will,"
said Jesse Jackson, founder of the
Rainbow/PUSH Coalition.
Added Senate Democratic leader
Tom Daschle of South Dakota: "I hope
the administration will now work with
us to support programs that promote
racial and ethnic diversity in education,
the military, the workforce, and
tnroughout our society.
But Bush, in a strategy that has
served him well throughout his politi
cal career, ignored his critics' charges
and declared that the court rulings
were actually a victory for his admin
istration. He then flew to New York
where he raised more than $4 million
for his re-election effort.
"I applaud the Supreme Court for
recognizing the value of diversity on
our nation's campuses," Bush said in
a statement.
Some Republicans played down
the political implications of Monday's
rulings for Bush.
"This isn't a political issue for him,"
said Chad Colby, spokesman for the
Republican National Committee.
"This is an issue of fairness."
The chief fallout for Bush from
Monday's decision is likely to be a re
newed emphasis on the ideological
makeup of the court, with several jus
tices considered candidates for retire
ment this summer.
"One of the decisions was 5-4. It
does not get any more in your face
than this," said Debra DeShong,
spokeswoman for the Democratic Na
tional Committee.
In addition to energizing traditional
Democratic constituencies, including
blacks, labor union members and abor
tion-rights supporters, the court's rulings
upset conservatives — a critical voting
bloc for Bush — who want to see affir
mative action abolished. All of those
factors would only intensify the politi
cal pressure on Bush when it comes
time to pick a Supreme Court justice,
Republicans and Democrats agree
Kim Gandy, president of the liberal
National Organization for Women,
called the Michigan case "a brutal re
minder of the court s delicate balance
and what is at stake with the next res
ignation from the court."
And conservatives may grow more
wary of Bush. They are already con
cerned that Bush is considering ap
pointing his White House lawyer, Al
berto Gonzales, who is believed to
support affirmative action and abor
tion rights, both litmus test issues on
the political right.
Bush tried to create a middle
ground in the debate over affirmative
action, as he has on other sensitive is
sues. He said he supports "affirmative
access," which he defines as increas
ing access for minorities without us
ing quotas.
Bush's declaration Monday that the
Supreme Court's rulings actually vali
dated his position, despite the admin
istration's appeal to the court to strike
down the admissions policies, en
raged Democrats who have long been
frustrated in their ability to cut into
Bush's popular support.
The president said the court's rul
ings validated his call for "race-neutral
approaches" in increasing minority
enrollment, but Democrats pointed
out that the court explicitly affirmed
that race could be taken into account
in such circumstances.
Norm Ornstein, a presidential
scholar at the conservative American
Enterprise Institute, said the bold
ness of Bush to declare victory even
after he has suffered setbacks has
served him well in the past, noting,
"As long as he can fuzz it up just
enough, he's OK."
(c) 2003, Chicago Tribune. Distributed
by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information
Services.
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