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American Civil Liberties Union v. Miller

Significance, Legal Action Created Politically Diverse Group Of Plaintiffs, Jurisdiction A Question Of Precedent, A Question Of First Amendment Rights



Plaintiffs

American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia (ACLU), The AIDS Survival Project, The Atlanta Free Thought Society, Atlanta Veterans Alliance, Community ConneXion, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Electronic Frontiers Georgia, Representative Mitchell Kaye, Ken Leebow, Bruce Mirken, Bonnie L. Nadri, Josh Riley, John Troyer, and Jonathan Wallace



Defendants

Zell Miller, Governor of Georgia, and Michael Bowers, Georgia State Attorney General

Plaintiffs' Claim

That Georgia's Computer Systems Protection Act is vague and overbroad violating the First and Fourteenth amendments' rights to free expression and association, the Fifth Amendment's right to privacy, and the Commerce Clause.

Chief Lawyer for Plaintiffs

Ann Beeson

Chief Defense Lawyer

David A. Runion

Judge

Marvin H. Shoob

Place

Atlanta, Georgia

Date of Decision

7 August 1997

Decision

Ruled in favor of the ACLU and granted a preliminary injunction against enforcement of the Georgia Interstate Fraud Statute.

Related Cases

  • Virginia v. American Booksellers Association, 484 U.S. 383 (1988).
  • American Libraries Association v. Pataki, 969 F.Supp. 160 (1997).
  • Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union, 512 U.S. 844 (1997).

Sources

Patents, Trademarks, Copyrights: Intellectual Property in a Global EconomyCongressional Digest, vol. 75. Washington, DC: Congressional Digest Corp., December 1996.

Further Readings

  • ACLU Cyber Liberties. Website, http://www.star.org/oraclu/news/liberty2.htm
  • American Civil Liberties Union. Website, http://www.aclu.org
  • American Library Association. Website http://www.ala.org
  • Lee, Lewis C., and J. Scott Davidson, eds. Intellectual Property for the Internet. New York: Wiley Law Publications, 1997.

Additional topics

Law Library - American Law and Legal InformationNotable Trials and Court Cases - 1995 to Present