Blocking legislation may refer to the political struggles of legislators in voting for proposed laws. Bills may get killed quietly in committees from lack of hearing or voting on the issue. It is also used to refer to the specific type of legislation dealing with blocking the access of minors and others, such as library patrons, to access material on the Internet.
The Communications Decency Act (CDA) of 1995 was passed as an amendment to the Communications Act. The Act created several new criminal offenses, focused mainly on the creation and distribution to minors of material that is obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, or indecent. "Obscene" material is not constitutionally protected, but material described in the slightly more vague terms "lewd, lascivious, filthy, or indecent" may be, and could easily provide precedent for making private messages between consenting adults to become illegal. The Supreme Court declared the CDA unconstitutional in their decision in ACLU v. Reno.
