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Bethany Austin v. Illinois
Paid petition · Supreme Court of Illinois, No. 123910 · judgment October 18, 2019
Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.
Questions presented
Through social media, millions of people share photographs and information about the intimate details of their lives. In response, forty-six states in recent years adopted laws to combat so-called “revenge porn,” the non-consensual dissemination of private sexual images. This case arises from a decision of the Illinois Supreme Court which upheld that state’s revenge porn law even though it is being used to prosecute an individual whose actions had nothing to do with either “revenge” or “porn.” The court’s review of the law under intermediate scrutiny is plainly inconsistent with recent decisions of this Court requiring strict First Amendment scrutiny of content-based laws, and conflicts with a Vermont Supreme Court ruling, which held the appropriate standard of review of such laws is strict scrutiny. The decision presents two critical questions of First Amendment law that go to the heart of preserving free expression as new technologies present special challenges, while providing guidance for states that seek to curtail harassment and abuse:
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Whether strict First Amendment scrutiny applies to a criminal law that prohibits nonconsensual dissemination of non-obscene nude or sexuallyoriented visual material?
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Whether the First Amendment requires a law that prohibits nonconsensual dissemination of non-obscene nude or sexually-oriented visual material to impose a requirement of specific intent to harm or harass the individual(s) depicted?
Counsel of record
For petitioner
Robert Lawrence Corn-Revere
Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
For respondent
Michael Marc Glick
Proceedings
- Oct 05 2020Petition DENIED.
- Jul 27 2020Reply of petitioner Bethany Austin filed. (Distributed)
- Jul 22 2020DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/29/2020.
- Jul 06 2020Brief of respondent State of Illinois in opposition filed.
- Apr 27 2020Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including July 6, 2020. See Rule 30.1.
- Apr 24 2020Motion to extend the time to file a response from May 4, 2020 to July 3, 2020, submitted to The Clerk.
- Apr 02 2020Response Requested. (Due May 4, 2020)
- Mar 25 2020DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 4/17/2020.
- Mar 20 2020Letter of Bethany Austin not accepted for filing. (March 20, 2020 - Corrected version to be submitted)
- Mar 20 2020Letter of petitioner Bethany Austin received.
- Mar 20 2020Brief amici curiae of The Cato Institute filed.
- Mar 20 2020Brief amici curiae of First Amendment Lawyers Association and the Marion B. Brechner First Amendment Project filed.
- Mar 20 2020Brief amicus curiae of Woodhull Freedom Foundation filed.
- Mar 20 2020Brief amicus curiae of Institute for Justice filed.
- Mar 19 2020Waiver of right of respondent Illinois to respond filed.
- Mar 19 2020Brief amici curiae of American Booksellers Association, et al. filed.
- Mar 04 2020Blanket Consent filed by Petitioner, Bethany Austin.
- Feb 14 2020Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due March 20, 2020)
- Jan 14 2020Application (19A777) granted by Justice Kavanaugh extending the time to file until February 14, 2020.
- Jan 10 2020Application (19A777) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from January 16, 2020 to February 14, 2020, submitted to Justice Kavanaugh.