WHEN A FEDERAL judge in Atlanta last year issued a restraining order halting enforcement of a law to protect “mail-order brides,” the president of an Alpharetta Web site for men seeking foreign brides thought other judges would follow suit.
He was wrong.
Instead, on March 23, U.S. District Judge Clarence Cooper reversed himself, finding that the International Marriage Broker Regulation Act of 2005—which requires male users to reveal their arrests or convictions for violent crimes—does not restrict the Web site's commercial free speech rights.
Cooper's order denying European Connections & Tours Inc. the injunction it had sought suggested that the law would impact only “those American men who have a significant history of violence toward women—the very type of person that Congress is concerned about.”
Setting aside what he described as European Connections' “doomsday scenario,” the federal judge suggested that if the new law succeeds in reducing abuses of “mail-order brides” by their American spouses, the international marriage broker business “may actually grow.”
“In any event,” Cooper added, “Economic loss … does not constitute a First Amendment injury. … When balancing the harms in this case, the Court is confronted with the classic ‘blood-versus-money' analysis, and the safety of foreign women coming to the United States clearly is the more vital interest.”
On Monday, Preston Steckel, the president of European Connections in Alpharetta, said he was “very disappointed in the outcome.” The federal statute, passed in February 2006, could make his business liable if the men who enroll in one of several international matchmaker Web sites he operates lie about previous arrests or convictions.
The statute requires international marriage brokers to obtain a certification from their U.S. customers documenting whether they have ever been the subject of civil protection or restraining orders; whether they have been arrested or convicted on criminal charges that include homicide, assault, domestic violence, sexual assault, torture, kidnapping or stalking; and whether they have any arrests or convictions associated with engaging in prostitution or procuring prostitutes. It also requires customers of international marriage brokers to disclose their marital histories and the ages of any children under 18. Next page
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