Saint Louis Beacon - Hulshof cyberbullying bill raises 1st amendment ?s

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Hulshof cyberbullying bill raises 1st amendment ?s

By William Freivogel
Last Updated ( Friday, 23 May 2008 )

Rep. Kenny Hulshof joined Rep. Linda Sanchez in introducing a federal law against cyberbullying, a proposal that may violate the First Amendment. Bruce Sanford, one of the nation's top First Amendment experts, says he doesn't think it is even "plausibly" constitutional.

The Sanchez-Hulshof bill is the latest legislative attempt to respond to the Megan Meier MySpace tragedy . The bill would make it a crime to intend to "coerce, intimidate, harass, or cause substantal emotional distress" to somone using electronic communications. The exact text of the bill is not yet available on the official Library of Congress site.

Sanford said,"I don't even think that's plausibly constitutional. Congress has a completely undistinguished track record of passing impulsively unconstitutional laws when it comes to new technologies....It would be nice to think that Congress would act more intelligently when they try to regulate in an area of such constitutional sensitivity. But their track record is they just don't. They pass bills that are politically popular but hopelessly unconstitutional."

Last week the Missouri Legislature passed a law making cyberharassment illegal.

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