Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition
United States Supreme Court
535 U.S. 234 (2002)
Relevant factsFree
The CPPA banned sexually explicit images that merely "appear to depict" minors, even if produced using adult actors or computer imaging with no real children involved; the government defended the ban as necessary to combat pedophiles' use of such images to seduce children, stimulate demand for real child pornography, and evade prosecution when real and virtual images become indistinguishable.
IssueFree
Whether the federal Child Pornography Prevention Act of 1996 unconstitutionally restricted speech in violation of the First Amendment because it proscribes a significant volume of speech that is not obscene under Miller and not child pornography under Ferber.