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Supreme Court Sides With Pornographers Again
eagleforum.org ^ | July 14, 2004 | Phyllis Schlafly

Posted on 07/13/2004 10:11:42 AM PDT by Tailgunner Joe

Do you ever wonder why the internet is so polluted with pornography? The Supreme Court just reminded us why: it blocks every attempt by Congress to regulate the pornographers.

From its ivory tower, the Court props open the floodgates for smut and graphic sex. Over the past five years, it has repeatedly found new constitutional rights for vulgarity, most recently invalidating the Child Online Protection Act (COPA).

This latest judicial outrage happened on the final day of the Supreme Court term, after which the justices headed out for a long summer break. Lacking teenaged children of their own, the justices closed their eyes to electronic obscenity polluting our children's minds.

For decades, pornographers have enjoyed better treatment by our courts than any other industry. The justices have constitutionally protected obscenity in libraries, filth over cable television, and now unlimited internet pornography.

The flood of pornography started with the Warren Court when it handed down 34 decisions between 1966 and 1970 in favor of the smut peddlers. In mostly one-sentence decisions that were issued anonymously (the justices were too cowardly to sign them), the Court overturned every attempt by communities to maintain standards of decency.

The judges' obsession with smut is astounding. Even though five Supreme Court justices were appointed by Presidents Reagan and the first Bush, graphic sex wins judicial protection in essentially every case.

Woe to those who transgress an obscure environmental law, or say a prayer before a football game, or run a political ad within two months of an election. They find no judicial sympathy, as courts now routinely restrict private property rights and censor political speech.

But the pornographers can do no wrong in the eyes of our top justices. The most explicit sex can be piped into our home computers and the Supreme Court prevents our democratically elected officials from doing anything about it.

COPA was enacted by Congress in response to the Court's invalidation of the predecessor law, the Communications Decency Act of 1996. But decency lost again when six justices knocked out COPA in Ashcroft v. ACLU.

COPA was badly needed, as filth plagues the internet, incites sex crimes, and entraps children. COPA banned the posting for "commercial purposes" on the World Wide Web of material that is "patently offensive" in a sexual manner unless the poster takes reasonable steps to restrict access by minors.

You don't need to look very far to find a tragic crime traceable to the internet. In New Jersey in 1997, 15-year-old Sam Manzie, who had fallen prey to homosexual conduct prompted by the internet, sexually assaulted and murdered 11-year-old Eddie Werner, who was selling candy door-to-door.

COPA did not censor a single word or picture. Instead, it merely required the purveyors of sex-for-profit to screen their websites from minors, which can be done by credit card or other verification.

But minors are an intended audience for the highly profitable sex industry. Impressionable teenagers are most easily persuaded to have abortions, and homosexual clubs in high school are designed for the young.

Justice Kennedy declared it unconstitutional for Congress to stop porn flowing to teens, shifting the burden to families to screen out the graphic sex rather than imposing the cost on the companies profiting from the filth. His reasoning is as absurd as telling a family just to pull down its window shades if it doesn't want to see people exposing themselves outside.

In a prior pro-porn decision, Kennedy cited Hollywood morals as a guide for America, but this time he relied on the prevalence of foreign pornography. "40% of harmful-to-minors content comes from overseas," he declared in holding that the other 60% of obscenity is wrapped in the First Amendment.

The Supreme Court insisted that individual internet users should buy filters to try to block the vulgarity. Should those who do not like air pollution be told to buy air masks?

The Supreme Court protects pornography in books, movies, cable television, and the internet, real or simulated, against all citizens' clean-up efforts. The Court is no longer the blindfolded lady weighing a controversy, but is dominated by media-driven supremacists forcing us down into a moral sewer.

This latest pro-porn decision was too much even for Clinton-appointed Justice Breyer. He said, "Congress passed the current statute in response to the Court's decision" invalidating the prior law; "what else was Congress supposed to do?"

The solution to these ills foisted on us by judicial supremacists is for Congress to exercise its constitutional powers to remove jurisdiction from the federal courts over pornography. The Court has abused its power, and it's Congress's duty to end the judicial abuse.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Editorial; Extended News; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: copa; culturewar; demeaningwomen; eagleforum; hedonism; hollywoodmorals; hollywoodvalues; immoralwomen; lawlessness; lustoftheflesh; mockinggod; moralrelativism; mtvculture; oligarchy; phyllisschlafly; popculture; porn; pornography; protectchildren; romans1; secularhumanism; secularstate; sexualperversion; smut; supremecourt; tyrantsrule; vulgar; whateverfeelsgood
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1 posted on 07/13/2004 10:11:45 AM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
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To: Tailgunner Joe
It's called the First Amendment.

I don't want to see any more 'interpreting' or 'the founders really meant' on the first amendment, than I do on the second Amendment.

What part of "Shall not be infringed" and "Congress shall make no law" is so hard for porno bigots and gun grabbers to understand?

So9

2 posted on 07/13/2004 10:16:33 AM PDT by Servant of the 9 (Goldwater Republican)
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To: presidio9; martin_fierro; TheBigB

pornsidio9 ping.


3 posted on 07/13/2004 10:18:52 AM PDT by Constitution Day (What's the Kerry/Edwards strategy for winning the War on Terror? SUE THE TERRORISTS!)
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To: Tailgunner Joe
Should those who do not like air pollution be told to buy air masks?

No, they should make all SUV owners pay higher taxes to 'encourage' smarter use. < /sarcasm>

4 posted on 07/13/2004 10:19:42 AM PDT by Bella_Bru (It's for the children = It takes a village)
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To: Tailgunner Joe

"Protecting" children from porn is a parent's job, not the government's. Why does everything have to be G rated?


5 posted on 07/13/2004 10:20:38 AM PDT by Jim Pelosi
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To: Servant of the 9
Well said. Better for porn to be on the Internet than in seedy adult bookstores in cities.

Besides, the free market has already responded to the porn problem - there are plenty of filters that parents can buy or download, such as NetNanny. Plus the porn sites have adult age verification checks. A lot of these parents just aren't doing their jobs and are letting their kids go online to meet who-knows-what.

6 posted on 07/13/2004 10:21:31 AM PDT by ServesURight
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To: Tailgunner Joe
The most explicit sex can be piped into our home computers

No, it can't. You voluntarily connect to the internet and there are numerous ways to block porn or other material you find objectionable. Demanding that government protect you when there are many easy non-government ways to take care of the problem is a liberal approach to law-making.

7 posted on 07/13/2004 10:22:22 AM PDT by Modernman ("I don't care to belong to a club that accepts people like me as members" -Groucho Marx)
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To: Tailgunner Joe
Damn that free speech and anyone who believes in it. We need more federal regulation! /sarcasm off

With groups like eagleforum clamoring for bigger, badder, nanny government, what the hell are liberal groups supposed to do to get attention?

8 posted on 07/13/2004 10:23:06 AM PDT by Melas
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To: Tailgunner Joe
You don't need to look very far to find a tragic crime traceable to the internet. In New Jersey in 1997, 15-year-old Sam Manzie, who had fallen prey to homosexual conduct prompted by the internet, sexually assaulted and murdered 11-year-old Eddie Werner, who was selling candy door-to-door.

What, if anything, does this have to do with internet porn? Porn caused this little scumbag to commit rape and murder? That's an argument right out of the NOW handbook.

9 posted on 07/13/2004 10:24:29 AM PDT by Modernman ("I don't care to belong to a club that accepts people like me as members" -Groucho Marx)
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To: Melas
With lines like this:

Should those who do not like air pollution be told to buy air masks?

they are trying to move in on the liberals territory.

10 posted on 07/13/2004 10:24:35 AM PDT by Bella_Bru (It's for the children = It takes a village)
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To: Tailgunner Joe
How many 'Gnostics' are 'seated'?
11 posted on 07/13/2004 10:25:30 AM PDT by maestro
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To: ServesURight
Still, porn sites should be required to have a dot xxx or dot prn listing so people can block them altogether.
12 posted on 07/13/2004 10:25:57 AM PDT by BlkConserv
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To: BlkConserv
Still, porn sites should be required to have a dot xxx or dot prn listing so people can block them altogether

That might work for websites based in the US (leaving aside problems with defining what qualifies as a porn website) but would make no difference for foreign porn sites.

13 posted on 07/13/2004 10:28:34 AM PDT by Modernman ("I don't care to belong to a club that accepts people like me as members" -Groucho Marx)
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To: Bella_Bru

Trying hell, I think they succeeded!!!


14 posted on 07/13/2004 10:30:21 AM PDT by Melas
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To: Tailgunner Joe
COPA is unconstitutional, CFR is constitutional. SCOTUS is suffereing from dementia.

There is no undue burden for requiring ID becuase if there was 10 year olds could buy Jim Beam and 6 year olds could go down to the Dirty Harry's Women on Wheels club.

Political speech can be banned but porn can't be regulated.

Upside down, inside out.

15 posted on 07/13/2004 10:30:47 AM PDT by jwalsh07
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To: ServesURight

SCOTUS doesn't have a leg to stand on this issue. If Internet porn were restricted then so could medical and healthcare websites. The porn industry is great at regulating itself Schlafly should worry about other, more pressing issues such as gov't spending and the UN.


16 posted on 07/13/2004 10:33:18 AM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist
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To: Extremely Extreme Extremist

SCOTUS ruled correctly on this issue. It was Schlafly that didn't have a leg to stand on.


17 posted on 07/13/2004 10:34:17 AM PDT by Melas
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To: Tailgunner Joe

ALL porn/smut should have a .SEX extension so it would be easy to block.

I forget that makes toooo much sense.

18 posted on 07/13/2004 10:39:13 AM PDT by Chode (American Hedonist ©®)
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To: Tailgunner Joe
Do you ever wonder why the internet is so polluted with pornography?

No, I don't. The reason is simple. There is a HUGE market for it, and the providers are meeting the demand.

19 posted on 07/13/2004 10:40:06 AM PDT by Phantom Lord (Distributor of Pain, Your Loss Becomes My Gain)
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To: Chode
ALL porn/smut should have a .SEX extension so it would be easy to block.

And by what authority would congress and SCOTUS be able to enforce this law on site outside of the US, which can be looked at just as easily as a site based in the US?

20 posted on 07/13/2004 10:43:00 AM PDT by Phantom Lord (Distributor of Pain, Your Loss Becomes My Gain)
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