Media Coalition Members Defeat Alaska Harmful to Minors Law in ABFFE v. Burns

  1. U.S. District Judge Beistline's Amended Judgment Ruling Unconstitutional Alaska's Harmful to Minors Law and its Application to Electronic Speech

When U.S. District Judge Ralph Beistline on June 30 granted plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment, striking down the 2010 law that applied Alaska's harmful to minors law to electronically-transmitted speech, his ruling left unclear whether the judgment applied only to the new law or to Alaska's existing harmful to minors statute as well. Media Coalition members the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, Association of American Publishers, Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, Entertainment Merchants Association, and Freedom to Read Foundation; local artists and booksellers; the Alaska Library Association; and the American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska filed a motion to amend the July 30 judgment, requesting that the judge clarify his order.

On August 30, Judge Beistline issued an amended judgment, making clear that he intended to bar enforcement not just the new law at issue in the suit but also Alaska's existing harmful to minors statute.

 

To learn more about the case, visit Media Coalition's ABFFE v. Burns page. Media Coalition has a strong record of protecting speech from similar threats in other states. Our other "Harmful to Minors/Minors' Access" litigation can be accessed here.

updated 8/31/11