Reacting to Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition and the Burial of the CPPA: An Argument to Regulate Digital Child Pornography Because it Incites Imminent Lawless Action

Authors

Justin Leach

First Page

114

Abstract

Part I discusses the nature and origin of digital child pornography and how child pornography has traditionally fit into First Amendment analysis. Part II discusses Congress' reaction to digital innovations in child pornography by passing the Child Pornography Prevention Act and, Part II further explains the federal appellate courts' treatment of the CPPA. Part III discusses the history and arguments made for each side in Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition. Part IV discusses the legal and constitutional analysis of the Supreme Court in striking down the regulations that banned digital child pornography. Finally, Part V makes an additional constitutional argument, largely unexplored by the government in Free Speech, supporting the ban on digital child pornography--that digital child pornography advocates illegal conduct to such a degree that it incites imminent lawless action, specifically whetting the appetites of pedophiles to seduce and harm real children.

Recommended Citation

Justin Leach, Reacting to Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition and the Burial of the CPPA: An Argument to Regulate Digital Child Pornography Because it Incites Imminent Lawless Action, 5 Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment and Technology Law 114 (2021)
Available at: https://scholarship.law.vanderbilt.edu/jetlaw/vol5/iss1/7