A sharply divided decision on June 29 by the Supreme Court of the United States affirmed a lower court's preliminary injunction against the enforcement of the Child Online Protection Act (COPA). The Court concluded that COPA would likely violate the free speech provisions of the Constitution. The Court sent the case back to the Distinct Court.

COPA required commercial web pornographers to obtain some sort of age verification from those who visit a pornographic web site. The law was designed merely to protect children (under age 17) from web pornographers by placing a requirement on adults to show proof of age before viewing. The law did not attempt to ban pornography from the web.

The Court's opinion emphasizes the use of filters placed by parents on computers to filter out pornography. Experience has shown that filtering may not be adequate or even available in all cases. COPA sought to add a more satisfactory level of protection for parents and minor children.

It now may be extremely difficult for Congress to come up with an alternative that will satisfy the Supreme Court or the ACLU, which brought the case to block the enforcement of COPA.