January 16, 2006 | Sex & Society

Alito broaches Internet porn

Abortion, executive privilege and privacy are among the most talked-about issues facing Judge Samuel Alito in his confirmation as a Supreme Court Justice. Members of Congress added another item to Alito's hot-list, however, when they asked him about Internet porn in hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week.

In the second day of hearings on Jan. 10, Sen. Mike DeWine (R-Ohio) questioned Alito about Internet porn and its availability to minors. He cited two attempts by Congress to restrict the availability of porn online, according to The Associated Press -- the Communications Decency Act and the Child Online Protection Act, both of which were struck down by the Supreme Court on First Amendment grounds.

"The core of the First Amendment is the protection of political speech, but it seems to me that pornography is altogether different," DeWine told Alito. "Unlike political speech, pornography has little value, if it has any value at all."

Alito's response -- that applying First Amendment protection to the Internet is a "really difficult problem" -- was encouraging. He stated that constitutional law protects pornography, but not obscenity, and that all branches of the government must work to separate questions of content from those of access to content by minors.

In the wake of his Senate hearings, Democrats and Republicans alike expect Alito to be confirmed, The Washington Post reports. If he is, he will replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who has been a reliable swing vote on many critical First Amendment questions. And while the possibilities are frightening for many Bush-bashers, the relatively good news is that Sammy does not so far appear to have an anti-porn agenda.

• Alito calls online porn issue "difficult"   [First Amendment Center]
• Alito likely to become a justice [Washington Post]