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U.S. District Court/Direct
Chris Hansen/National ACLU
In December 1999, the ACLU-NJ filed a complaint on behalf of Mike Zieper, an independent filmmaker, who had published a short film on his web site depicting a fictional take over of Times Square on New Year's Eve 1999. An FBI agent and an Assistant U.S. Attorney (AUSA) contacted the filmmaker and the Internet Service Provider and intimidated them into taking the site down. The ACLU-NJ filed a suit against the Department of Justice, the FBI agent, and the AUSA challenging this action and their policy of censoring speech on the Internet. On June 25, 2002, the Court issued an order denying the government's motion to dismiss, ruling that the government had violated Zieper's free speech rights. The government has now appealed that decision to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. On April 2, 2003, the Second Circuit upheld the lower court's decision and, on December 18, 2003, denied the government's petition to have an en banc rehearing. The government has, if it chooses to do so, until March 18, 2004, to petition the United States Supreme Court to review the case.
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