The right to free speech includes other mediums of expression that communicates a message. .

             And that is where the internet comes in. Until recently, the freedom of speech was concerned only with actual oral speech and written word. Today, however, with the advent of the internet, there is a whole different medium of expression that has not been accounted for in case law.

             One of the first cases to address the freedom of speech as it applies to the internet was ACLU v. Reno. The decision of the three judge panel in ACLU v. Reno, issued June 11, 1996, grants the most complete First Amendment protection to the Internet imaginable. The three judges, Dolores K. Sloviter, Ronald L. Buckwalter and Stewart Dalzell, performed their functions to the fullest: These judges stayed away from political considerations, internalized the technical details of a new unfamiliar medium, searched successfully for the right judicial metaphor, and issued a decision which will serve to protect our freedom of speech well into the next century. .

             Since courts considering a new communications medium typically botch it on the first attempt, according to legal experts, the ACLU v. Reno ruling is especially remarkable. .

             Striking a gigantic and resounding victory for the future of the First Amendment on the Internet, the Supreme Court ruled in Reno v. ACLU that the federal Communications Decency Act (CDA) is an unconstitutional restriction on free speech, affirming a lower court decision.

             The CDA, Congress' initial attempt to regulate the freedom of speech online, was passed in February 1996. In imposing content regulations throughout the Internet, much as in broadcast television and radio, the CDA intended to threaten the very existence of the Internet as a means of free expression. In striking down this oppressive law, the ACLU has helped maintain the Internet as a free forum for ideas and commerce well into the 21st century.