FC: Court denies DOJ request to block filtering lawsuit; correction

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

News coverage:

http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/168404.html
Court Rejects Govt. Move To Toss Net Porn Filtering Case

*********

PRESS STATEMENT
John W. Berry
President, American Library Association

(CHICAGOJuly 26, 2001) Less than 72 hours after hearing arguments, the 
three-judge panel of the United States District Court for the Eastern 
District in Philadelphia denied the government's Motion to Dismiss.
The American Library Association and its 63,000 members are pleased the 
court ruled that we will have our day in court on this most vital 
issue.  We firmly believe mandatory filtering is misguided and unworkable 
in the context of a public institution.
The American Library Association filed suit against the Children's Internet 
Protection Act in the United States District Court for the Eastern District 
on March 20, 2001.  Plaintiffs in the suit include libraries, library 
users, state library associations and the Freedom to Read Foundation. 
People for the American Way is serving as supporting counsel.
The case is American Library Association, Inc., et al. v. United States, 
et. al., No. 01-CV-1303.  The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a 
similar challenge; the two cases have been consolidated by the court and 
will be heard together.
For more information, call the American Library Association's Public 
Information Office at 312-280-5043.  Attached below is the language from 
the court's memorandum and order.

-30-

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA

AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION,
INC., et al.
v.
UNITED STATES, et al.                                           NO. 01-1303



MULTNOMAH COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY, et al.
v.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, et al.                                NO. 01-1322


MEMORANDUM AND ORDER
July 26, 2001

	A motion to dismiss the complaint under Fed.R.Civ.P.12(b)(6) addresses 
only the sufficiency of a plaintiff's pleading.  After careful 
consideration of the pending motions and responses, we have concluded that 
plaintiffs' complaints in these actions contain enough factual allegations 
to withstand dismissal.  Plaintiffs are entitled to an opportunity to prove 
their allegations.  It is therefore Ordered:
        That the defendants' Motions to Dismiss the Complaints are denied.


Edward R. Becker, Ch. J.
John P. Fullam, Sr. J.
Harvey Bartle III, J.

*********

[David is responding to: http://www.politechbot.com/p-02298.html which I 
titled "Philadelphia judges OK library filtering case for 2002 trial," a 
headline that was about 72 hours premature. --DBM]

Date: Tue, 24 Jul 2001 12:05:06 -0400
To: declan () well com
From: David Sobel <sobel () epic org>
Subject: Re: FC: Philadelphia judges OK library filtering case for 2002
 trial
Cc: politech () politechbot com
X-UIDL: bf2e06266395a8a357c541d581062637


Declan -

Although the hearing yesterday went very well, with the three
judges expressing quite a bit of skepticism concerning CIPA,
your subject line jumps the gun a bit.

As the last line of the Reuters article on the Wired site states,

>[Chief Judge] Becker said the panel would rule later on whether the
>case should be dismissed, but set no deadline for a decision.

- David


.......................................................................
David L. Sobel, General Counsel              *   +1 202 483 1140 (tel)
Electronic Privacy Information Center        *   +1 202 483 1248 (fax)
1718 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Suite 200        *   sobel () epic org
Washington, DC 20009   USA                   *   http://www.epic.org


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