For Immediate Release April 16, 2002 New York, NY The National Coalition Against Censorship praised today's 6-3 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition that struck down the Child Pornography Prevention Act of 1996 as overbroad and unconstitutional. The statute that was struck down by the ruling prohibited "any visual depiction, including any photograph, [...]
We write to express concern over the decision by the University of Minnesota to establish an external review committee to evaluate publishing criteria and processes at the University of Minnesota Press.
It's fitting that one of the two books we've chosen to inaugurate the Free Expression Policy Project Book Page has itself become a target of censorship pressures.
In a victory for book buyers' right to remain anonymous "and free from governmental interference," the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that the Tattered Cover bookstore need not reveal customer records since there was no compelling need for the information.
Vanessa Leggett, the freelance journalist who was jailed in Texas for refusing to give government prosecutors confidential source material, is the recipient of the prestigious 2002 PEN/Newman's Own First Amendment Award, which carries a $25,000 prize. The award cites Leggett "as a powerful example of personal conviction and courage in the face of the most extreme pressure and a hero in the effort to preserve investigative freedom for writers and journalists in the U.S."