Doe v. Nebraska (D. Neb. 2012)

Doe v. Nebraska, 898 F.Supp.2d 1086 (D. Neb. 2012)

Nature of Case: Federal civil rights lawsuit. Several people required to register in Nebraska filed suit, alleging that state laws which, inter alia, banned registrants from social media, criminalized use of websites, and required provision of internet identifiers along with consent to search were unconstitutional.

Holding: After trial, district court concluded that:

• statute prohibiting use of social networking sites, instant messaging programs, and chat rooms was violative of the First Amendment and Due Process in that they were overbroad, and hopelessly vague;
• statute requiring registrants to disclose online identifiers and consent to search of electronic devices was violative of First Amendment, forced people to choose between First and Fourth Amendment rights, and unnecessarily chilled political speech;
• statutes were motivated by legislative animus, and therefore violated the Ex Post Facto clause of the U.S. Constitution