WASHINGTON — Woodhull Freedom Foundation has filed an appellate brief with the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, the latest action in the organization's four-year legal battle to have FOSTA-SESTA declared unconstitutional.
Woodhull, which advocates nationally for sexual freedom, is joined in the appeal by Human Rights Watch, the Internet Archive, Alex Andrews and Eric Koszyk.
Woodhull Freedom Foundation President Ricci Joy Levy explained that the appeal “gives us a chance to directly challenge the constitutionality of the FOSTA in a court that has previously affirmed us. FOSTA is a brutal, unconstitutional law that continues to destroy lives in its effort to silence sex workers.”
Although the fight against FOSTA-SESTA is a long battle, Levy added, “the stakes are enormous. We look forward to making our case before the D.C. Circuit.”
As XBIZ reported, in March the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia rejected a legal challenge to FOSTA-SESTA presented by Woodhull and partners, ruling that the U.S. government can continue enforcing the controversial legislation. The following month, Woodhull and the other plaintiffs filed an appeal.
Woodhull is represented by Bob Corn-Revere of Davis Wright Tremaine; Lawrence G. Walters of Walters Law Group; Aaron Mackey, Corynne McSherry and David Greene of digital rights nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation; and Daphne Keller of the Stanford Cyber Law Center.
Walters told XBIZ in April that FOSTA’s Section 230 exemption “sets a dangerous precedent for government censorship of other types of disfavored speech.”