Black Letter Law

A client asked a question that has me reading cases tonight.

And there, at page 29 of Kozinski’s majority en banc opinion in Fair Housing Council v. Roomates.com (April 3, 2008), I find this jewel on CDA Section 230 (c) immunity for website operators:

The message is clear: if you don’t encourage illegal content, or design your website to require users to input illegal content, you will be immune.

Where were the gloriously clear black-letter holdings like this, when I was in law school?

Sure, I’m gonna finish the full 54 page opinion and try to struggle through the nuances. And, yes, I will know more about this area of the law than I did when I started reading this thing. But, a clear concise statement of the take-home message that can fit in a fortune cookie — if I were in charge, this would be required in all published cases.

  1. a 2008.07.09 8:22am

    it is a thing of beauty.