This rotisserie assignment is due Monday at 11:30 p.m., with the response due Thursday at 1:00 p.m.
Read the decision in American Council of the Blind v. Boorstin, 644 F. Supp. 811 (D.D.C. 1986). The short factual summary is that the government used to publish a braille edition of Playboy, a magazine that (at least in its non-braille edition) is harmful to minors because it contains pornography, but is not obscene and therefore is constitutionally protected. Congress threatened to decrease funding for the braille program, and in response to the threats of decreased funding, the government official in charge stopped publishing the braille edition of Playboy. The American Council of the Blind sued on first amendment grounds, and the government was forced to resume publishing the braille Playboy. (The Library of Congress still produces and distributes a braille edition of Playboy to this day.)
Read the decision in Gay Guardian Newspaper v. Ohoopee Regional Library System, 235 F. Supp. 2d 1362 (S.D. Ga. 2002), which is a case about a library eliminating a "free-literature" table in response to one objectionable publication. (The library won.) The citations in the case provide a good introduction to the case law on library decisions.
In your writeup:
1. Discuss the relevance of the American Council of the Blind decision to a library that wanted to install filters on its Internet terminals today. Remember that local libraries, like the Library of Congress, are generally part of the government and bound by the first amendment. Is the judge's reasoning correct in the wake of United States v. American Library Ass'n, 123 S. Ct. 2297, 156 L. Ed. 2d 221 (2003)?
2. What does American Council of the Blind say about the likelyhood of success of a library patron who sued his local library for installing Internet filters, on first amendment grounds (as Danny threatened to do in class)? Using American Council of the Blind, Gay Guardian Newspaper, the other cases we have looked at, and any other cases you feel are relevant argue either that such a plaintiff should win, or should lose.
In your response:
1. Argue that the original writer was wrong.
Remember to support your discussion with citations to the cases we have read in class and others. If you need to find citations relevant to library filtering, the American Library Ass'n and Gay Guardian Newspaper decisions are treasure troves. Make sure your arguments are well supported with references to case or statutory authority as much as possible.