Miss. AG Says Ark. Court Decision Does Not Apply to Own Kids Online Safety Law
Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch (R) said the decision in the recent NetChoice, LLC v. Griffin case does not apply to her state's current case against the trade association about a kids online safety law, in a letter to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Tuesday. Earlier this month, trade association NetChoice suggested the 5th Circuit follow the ruling in Griffin and enjoin the Mississippi law, which is at the heart of NetChoice v. Fitch.
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"The State already refuted" the eight points laid out by NetChoice, said Fitch in the letter. "Griffin fails to apply the legally and factually demanding analysis that governs facial claims" and whatever it said about vagueness does not apply in this case. Further, Fitch said the Arkansas law "is a content-based regulation of speech," but the Mississippi law "regulates non-expressive conduct," and that Griffin'sstanding analysis is flawed. Arkansas just did not rebut it, as Mississippi did in NetChoice v. Fitch.
NetChoice sued Fitch in case 24-60341 over HB-1126, alleging that it violates the First Amendment and that its age-verification requirement poses privacy problems (see 2501310041). In oral argument in front of the 5th Circuit on Feb. 4, the judges appeared split over whether the state's age-verification law was constitutional (see 2502050031).