PHILADELPHIA - The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania will appear in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit on Friday, January 15, to argue that a lower court order blocking a district attorney from bringing child pornography charges against three teenage girls who appeared in their underwear or topless in digital photographs found on several students' cell phones should stand. This is the first case in the country challenging the constitutionality of bringing child pornography charges in the context of "sexting."
On March 30, 2009, U.S. District Judge James Munley granted a temporary restraining order blocking the district attorney from bringing the charges, finding that the photographs were not child pornography under Pennsylvania law and were protected under the First Amendment.
More information about the case, including copies of the original complaint, can be found at: /our-work/legal/legaldocket/milleretalvskumanick/
WHAT: Oral argument in the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Miller, et al. v. Skumanick, the first case in the country challenging the constitutionality of a prosecutor's authority to bring child pornography charges in the context of sexting
WHO: Witold Walczak, Legal Director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania, will argue before Judges Thomas L. Ambro, Michael Chagares and Walter King Stapleton
WHEN: Friday, January 15, 9:30 a.m.
WHERE: Federal Courthouse
Albert Branson Maris Courtroom, 19th floor
6th & Market streets, Philadelphia, PA
