WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court will take up a free-speech challenge to a North Carolina law banning registered sex offenders from using Facebook and other social networking sites that minors can join.
The justices on Friday agreed to review a North Carolina Supreme Court ruling that upheld the law. The high court acted on an appeal from Lester Packingham, who was convicted of violating the law after maintaining a Facebook account under a different name.
A lower state court had found the law violated free-speech rights by preventing a wide range of communication.
Packingham initially was convicted in 2002 of taking indecent liberties with a child in Carbarrus County near Charlotte. He was convicted in 2012 of violating the social networking law after police in Durham found his Facebook page.
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