United States Sixth Circuit

In a First Amendment challenge to an Ohio obscenity statute, the Court of Appeals certified the following questions to the Ohio Supreme Court: 1) Is the Attorney General correct in construing O.R.C. section 2907.31(D) to limit the scope of section 2907.31(A), as applied to electronic communications, to personally directed devices such as instant messaging, person-to-person e-mails, and private chat rooms?; and 2) Is the Attorney General correct in construing section 2907.31(D) to exempt from liability material posted on generally accessible websites and in public chat rooms?

Appellate Information

• Decided 03/19/2009
• Published 03/19/2009

Judges

• Before MARTIN and KETHLEDGE, Circuit Judges;  CARR, Chief District Judge.

Court

• United States Sixth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• ARGUED:  Benjamin C. Mizer, Office of the Ohio Attorney General, Columbus, Ohio, for Appellants.  Michael A. Bamberger, Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal, New York, New York, for Appellees.   ON BRIEF:  William P. Marshall, Michael D. Meuti, Office of the Ohio Attorney General, Columbus, Ohio, for Appellants.  Michael A. Bamberger, Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal, New York, New York, Jennifer M. Kinsley, H. Louis Sirkin, Sirkin, Pinales & Schwartz, Cincinnati, Ohio, for Appellees.