Alaska Supreme Court Declines to Certify Questions in ABFFE v. Burns

On June 8, 2011, the Alaska Supreme Court on denied the state's motion to certify questions to the court.  Last year, Media Coalition members were granted a preliminary injunction against an Alaska law that bans from the Internet all content deemed "harmful to minors." The organizations and their co-plaintiffs later sought to make that injunction permanent by filing a motion for summary judgment in the case. The state of Alaska responded with its own motion for summary judgment as well as a motion to certify questions to the Alaska Supreme Court; the motion asks the court to explain and clarify certain issues that the state feels are unanswered by the language in the statute. The Alaska Supreme Court effectively ruled that answering the questions was unnecessary to the interpretation of the law and for the continuation of the case.