The Supreme Court came to Philadelphia yesterday as two of the nation's most famous lawyers debated two controversial issues of the day. Harvard Professor Alan Dershowitz and former U.S. Attorney General Richard Thornburgh were the featured guests at the program, "A Citizens' Supreme Court," which was sponsored by the Annenberg Public Policy Center and the World Affairs Council. The two debated actual Supreme Court cases on the Communications Decency Act of 1996 -- which sought to regulate indecency on the Internet -- and California's Proposition 209 -- which banned affirmative action programs in public employment, education and contracting. During the first case, Janet Reno, et. al., v. American Civil Liberties Union, et. al., Dershowitz -- a Democrat who was part of O.J. Simpson's defense team -- spoke passionately against the CDA. He argued that, despite the risk of children accessing indecent material on the Internet, it was worth protecting "the most democratic form of speech ever known to humankind." The act was passed in the first place, according to Dershowitz, because "gutless congressmen and senators" and an "uncourageous president" assumed it would be struck down by the courts. Thornburgh -- a Republican and former governor of Pennsylvania -- countered Dershowitz's argument by noting that without the law a de facto censorship of the Internet will occur. "Because of the [indecent] images, parents are going to force [their children] to forgo the Internet altogether," he argued. Thornburgh also called on the computer industry to step up its efforts to help parents screen indecent material. "I can't believe that [Microsoft CEO Bill] Gates, if he applied his mind and his money, could not solve the problem we are debating today," he said. The citizens' court charged with deciding the victor consisted of people of all genders, ages, and racial backgrounds. After hearing each side, it ruled in favor of the ACLU and Dershowitz, 8-1. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the defendant this summer. In the second case, The Coalition for Economic Equity, et. al., v. Pete Wilson, et. al., Thornburgh argued for Proposition 209 on the basis that it did not end all affirmative action -- just such allegedly illegal acts as quotas. Arguing that the act singled out two groups, women and African Americans, Dershowitz came out against the "unconstitutional" proposition. Weighing both sides of the argument, the citizens' court again sided 8-1 with Dershowitz. The program, according to Annenberg Dean Kathleen Hall Jamieson, who moderated the debate, aims to examine "what the Constitution says and [how] might the Supreme Court or a citizen's court rule on critical issues that affect us personally." After the debate, which was held at the Arch Street Meeting House at 4th and Arch streets, College senior Brian Levine said, "It was an exhilarating experience to see two of the greatest legal minds of our time debate two issues central to the Constitution."
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