FSC Fights For Our Members in Court

While litigation is always a last resort, the Free Speech Coalition defends our members’ rights all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. In Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition, the organization had no choice but to challenge the Child Pornography Prevention Act (CPPA) of 1996, in which the federal government banned adults from creating content of what "appear to be" children engaged in sexual activity or "convey[ing] the impression" of being underage while engaging in sexual activity.

In effect, any performer who happened to be undergoing orthodontic treatment with braces – or even just wearing pigtails – could be accused of appearing to be or conveying the impression of being underage.

In a victory for FSC, the Supreme Court found that the CPPA unconstitutionally banned speech that "records no crime and creates no victims by its production." The win was described by the ACLU as "the most important victory for the First Amendment in decades."