Consumer Law

Supreme Court of Virginia Strikes Down Anti-Spam Law on First Amendment Grounds

By Brian Wolfman

Yesterday, in Jaynes v. Commonwealth, No. 06-2388 (Sept. 12, 2008), the Supreme Court of Virginia struck down a state statute that criminalized the sending of unsolicited bulk email to consumers. The defendant in question had been sentenced to 9 years in prison. Noting our long tradition protecting anonymous speech, the Viriginia high court struck down the statute because it included all spam, including non-commercial spam addressing political and religious matters at the core of the First Amendment.  The court's website synopsizes the opinion as follows:

In a prosecution for violations of Code § 18.2-152.3:1, the unsolicited bulk electronic mail provision of the Virginia Computer Crimes Act, the circuit court had jurisdiction over the person of the defendant, and defendant had standing to raise a First Amendment overbreadth claim as to the statute. Because Code § 18.2-152.3:1 is overbroad on its face, prohibiting the anonymous transmission of all unsolicited bulk e-mails ? including those containing political, religious or other protected speech ? the judgment of the Court of Appeals upholding the defendant's convictions is reversed and those convictions are vacated.

Today's Washington Post has this informative article on the decision. The Virginia attorney general has vowed to take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Full post as published by CL&P Blog on September 13, 2008 (boomark / email).