Tom Osborne, June 17, 2002

Created as an impartial protector and interpreter of the United States Constitution, the Supreme Court has evolved into a formulator of public policy that has redefined social standards and norms. Recent decisions have dealt damaging blows to our culture, morality and to the status of women and children in our society. In effect, the Supreme Court has exalted the rights to free speech and profiteering of pornographers over the rights of women and children to live lives free of exploitation and violence.

I believe that the Supreme Court has contributed to the unraveling of our culture with a host of critical decisions. However, this week I would like to focus specifically on two recent decisions on the Child Online Protection Act (COPA) and the Child Pornography Protection Act (CPPA). These decisions highlight the Court’s movement into public policy as an advocate for an element of society that preys on women and children for profit.

Most recently, the Court has refused to act on the Child Online Protection Act (COPA), which was signed into law nearly three years ago. This inaction prevents the legislation from taking affect. COPA prohibits the communication to children of material deemed "harmful to minors," and applies to communications for commercial purposes on publicly accessible websites. Essentially, COPA requires web sites posting sexually explicit or otherwise harmful material to verify that their users are adults by providing a credit card number or another form of identification. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) challenged COPA, and was granted a temporary injunction by the federal district court in Pennsylvania. While the Supreme Court has not upheld the ACLU’s challenge, without a definitive ruling by the Supreme Court, COPA remains law but cannot be implemented.

Finally, on April 16, 2002, the Supreme Court granted a victory to hardcore and child pornographers by overturning the Child Pornography Protection Act (CPPA). Though child pornography (unlike adult pornography) is not speech protected by the First Amendment, the Court deemed two paragraphs of the legislation unconstitutional, thereby overturning the law. Outraged by this decision, I joined a bipartisan group in Congress to draft legislation that will ban all forms of child pornography and withstand Constitutional scrutiny.

Pornography is not a victimless crime. What we see, hear, read and watch directly affects our thoughts and behaviors--why else would the advertising business be a multi-billion dollar industry? Pornography exploits and victimizes women and children for money--billions of dollars each year. In fact, pornography directly contributes to sexual assault, including rape and the molestation of children. In one study, nearly 80 percent of convicted molesters of boys admitted to the regular use of hard-core pornography. That number reaches 90 percent among molesters of girls. Child molesters employ pornography to seduce their prey, lower inhibitions and to serve as an instruction manual. Currently, there are over 1,000,000 pornographic websites on the Internet--these websites are among the most profitable on the Web.

In each of these cases, the Supreme Court has declared that the interests of the pornography industry outweigh the well being of our sons, daughters, sisters and wives. And our culture has suffered as a result.

Tom Osborne, a Republican, represents Nebraska's Third Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives.