On March 8, 2017, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that Minnesota’s law against electronic solicitation of children is constitutional. This decision reversed both a Minnesota district court and the Minnesota Court of Appeals, who both said the law was unconstitutionally overbroad in that it restricted a substantial amount of free speech.
Krista Muccio was arrested after a father reported that he found inappropriate photos on his 15-year-old son’s iPad. The photos depicted a female’s bare genitals, a female naked from the neck to below the waist, and a female’s buttocks covered by a thong. The photos were sent to the 15-year-old via direct message from Muccio’s Instagram account. At the time, Muccio was 41 years old. The 15-year-old told police that after receiving the photos, he sent back pictures of his own genitals. There were a number of sexually explicit messages exchanged between the two describing various sex acts.
Muccio argued that the Minnesota law prohibiting electronic exchange of communication relating to sexual conduct prohibited a substantial amount of free speech and was therefore unconstitutional. The State argued that the law did not prohibit a substantial amount of free speech. Instead, the law prohibited only speech that was criminal or obscene, which is not protected by the First Amendment.
The Court reasoned that the law did not affect otherwise protected speech, like mass-electronic communications, advertisements, music videos, or public social-media posts. Instead, the law prohibits communication that an adult directs at a child specifically intended to arouse sexual desires. While the court acknowledged that the law did prohibit some protected speech, it did so very narrowly.