This was the first case involving the limits and powers of government to regulate the Internet to be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the federal government asked the Court to decide whether Congress violated the free speech protections of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution when it passed the Communications Decency Act (CDA). A Pennsylvania district court had found this legislation unconstitutional under the First Amendment.

1. The U.S. Supreme Court decided that the Sable case was a good analogy to the case before the Court. Once the government realized that the Court saw Sable as a good analogy, the government knew it was likely to lose and that the CDA would be struck down. How so?
Clue: Reread the discussion of Sable, paying particular attention to the level of scrutiny the Court applied to the law challenged in that case.
2. If you were a member of Congress who had a hand in drafting the CDA, how would you modify this legislation in light of the Court’s opinion?
Clue: Reread the Court’s discussion of the ways in which the CDA is too broad and think of ways to make the law narrower in scope.