Free Speech Coalition v. Gonzales

483 F. Supp. 2d 1069, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 24389, 2007 WL 987484
CourtDistrict Court, D. Colorado
DecidedMarch 30, 2007
Docket1:05-mj-01126
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 483 F. Supp. 2d 1069 (Free Speech Coalition v. Gonzales) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Colorado primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Free Speech Coalition v. Gonzales, 483 F. Supp. 2d 1069, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 24389, 2007 WL 987484 (D. Colo. 2007).

Opinion

ORDER ON PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

MILLER, District Judge.

This matter is before me on Defendant Alberto Gonzales’s (the Attorney General) amended motion to dismiss, or in the alternative motion for summary judgment, filed December 12, 2005. I have reviewed the parties’ written arguments and summary judgment evidence and find that oral argument is not required. For the reasons that follow, the motion will be granted in part.

Background

Plaintiffs Free Speech Coalition, Inc., 1 Free Speech Coalition of Colorado, David Conners, and Lenjo, Inc., d/b/a/ New Beginnings, Inc. (altogether “Plaintiffs”) are all involved, in various capacities, in the adult entertainment industry. In this action, they seek declarations that 18 U.S.C.A. § 2257 and associated regulations violate their First Amendment and privacy rights, and a permanent injunction prohibiting the enforcement of these laws.

“Concerned about the exploitation of children by pornographers, Congress enacted the Child Protection and Obscenity Enforcement Act of 1988 ... to require producers of sexually explicit matter to maintain certain records concerning the performers that might help law enforcement agencies monitor the industry.” Sundance Assoc., Inc. v. Reno (Sundance), 139 F.3d 804, 805 (10th Cir.1998). The relevant provisions of the Act were codified in part at 18 U.S.C.A. § 2257, and established criminal and civil liability for failures to create or maintain certain records by persons “producing]” matters containing “actual sexually explicit conduct.” In particular, § 2257(b) required such “producers” to ascertain a performer’s name and date of birth through “examination of an identification document ... and any other indicia of ... identity as may be prescribed by regulations,” as well as any other name used by that performer and to record that information in the records required by § 2257(a). However, the statutory definition of “produces” excluded persons involved in “mere distribution or any other activity which does not involve hiring, contracting for managing, or otherwise arranging for the participation of the performers depicted.” § 2257(h)(3) (2004). 2

In 2003, Congress amended § 2257 by passing the Prosecutorial Remedies and Other Tools to End the Exploitation of Children Today (PROTECT) Act, which stiffened the applicable penalties and expanded the definition of the term “produces” to include creation of a “computer generated image, digital image, or picture.” Pub.L. No. 108-21, § 511, 18 U.S.C.A. § 2257(h)(3), (i) (2004).

*1074 § 2257 also requires the Attorney General to “issue appropriate regulations to carry out this section.” § 2257(g) (2007). The Attorney General first promulgated regulations on April 24, 1992, requiring, among other things,

producers to retain copies of the performers’ identification documents, to cross-index the records by all name(s) of each performer, including any alias, maiden name, nickname, stage name or professional name of the performer; and according to the title, number, or other similar identifier of each book, magazine, periodical, film, videotape, or other matter, and to maintain the records for a specified period of time.

Inspection of Records Relating to Depiction of Sexually Explicit Performances, 70 Fed.Reg. 29607, 29608 (May 24, 2005) (internal quotations omitted). Additionally, the regulations defined two types of “producer:” (1) the “primary producer,” who “actually films, videotapes, or photographs a visual depiction of actual sexually explicit conduct;” and (2) the “secondary producer,” who “produces, assembles, manufactures, publishes, duplicates, reproduces, or reissues a book, magazine, periodical, film, videotape, or other matter intended for commercial distribution that contains a visual depiction of actual sexually explicit conduct.” Sundance, 139 F.3d at 806 (quoting 28 C.F.R. § 75.2(a)). In 1998, the Tenth Circuit held that the regulations were invalid as ultra vires to the extent they regulated those whose activity “does not involve hiring, contracting for managing, or otherwise arranging for the participation of the performers depicted.” Id. (quoting § 2257(h)(3) (1998)).

Effective on June 23, 2005, the Attorney General amended the regulations “to account for changes in technology, particularly the internet, and to implement the [PROTECT] Act.” Inspection of Records Relating to Depiction of Sexually Explicit Performances, 70 Fed.Reg. at 29608. The updated regulations left in place those portions declared invalid by the Sundance court.

The amended regulations, inter alia, (1) expanded the “secondary producer” definition to include any person “who inserts on a computer site or service a digital image of, or otherwise manages the sexually explicit content of a computer site or service that contains a visual depiction of an actual human being engaged in actual sexually explicit conduct, including any person who enters into a contract, agreement, or conspiracy to do any of the foregoing;” (2) expanded the record-keeping obligations of producers by requiring them to keep (a) a copy of all visual depictions produced; and (b) “[w]here the depiction is published on an internet computer site or service, a copy of any [uniform resource locator (URL) ] 3 associated with the depiction or, if no URL is associated with the depiction, another uniquely identifying reference associated with the location of the depiction on the internet;” (3) continued various record maintenance and cross-referencing requirements; (4) required that the street address at which the records are kept be included in the compliance statement, required to be displayed on media containing the depictions; (5) required that producers keep a copy of a performer’s identification card for depictions made after July 3, 1995; and (6) required that producers make their records available for inspections, including by making their records available for at least twenty hours per week. 28 C.F.R. § 75.1-75.8.

Plaintiffs argue that the statute and regulations are invalid as violative of their *1075 First Amendment and privacy rights, and in any case, the regulations, to the extent they apply to secondary producers, contravene the Tenth Circuit’s holding in Sun-dance. In December 2005, following a hearing on the matter, I issued a preliminary injunction that generally prohibited enforcement of the regulations to the extent they are inconsistent with Sundance, and prohibited enforcement of two provisions in the regulations that likely violated the First Amendment. Free Speech Coal. v. Gonzales, 406 F.Supp.2d 1196, 1212-13 (D.Colo.2005).

The Nature of the Attorney General’s Motion

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

FREE SPEECH COALITION, INC. v. Holder
729 F. Supp. 2d 691 (E.D. Pennsylvania, 2010)
Connection Distributing Co. v. Holder
557 F.3d 321 (Sixth Circuit, 2009)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
483 F. Supp. 2d 1069, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 24389, 2007 WL 987484, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/free-speech-coalition-v-gonzales-cod-2007.