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[chomiji]

SOPA, PIPA lose support from lawmakers on Capitol Hill amid blackout

Co-sponsors who say they can no longer support their own legislation include Senators Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican, Roy Blunt, a Missouri Republican, and Ben Cardin, a Maryland Democrat ... .

- Washington Post

Ben Cardin is one of my Congress-critters, and I wrote to him this morning! Yay! (Yes, I know that chances are he hasn't yet got to my message, and may never, but still - feels good, you know?)

Comments

[rachel_riecheru]

I hope this stops them once and for all... its ridiculous to censor the internet! Isn't one of your first amendments the right to free speech?

[lawless523]

If the bill passed, I would expect an immediate lawsuit and an injunction against enforcing the offensive provisions of the bill because of First Amendment violations, and either it would wind up at the Supreme Court or the Supreme Court would let stand an appeals court ruling on the matter.

I don't see how it would not be held to be unconstitutional, considering that several pieces of legislation aimed at protecting children from the internet were invalidated by the Supreme Court. The mechanism used is an unchecked prior restraint without any provision for due process. In fact, it seems so cut and dried to me (Pentagon Papers case, anyone?) that I would expect a Supreme Court decision to be unanimous or near-unanimous.

[chomiji]

You can trust lawless523 on this one - she's the legal eagle! But the folks who put forth these bills say that it's all about stopping piracy and making sure that the creators of content get their due. Trouble is, as author John Scalzi said, it's "the equivalent of dealing with burglars in someone’s home by carpetbombing every house on the street."