Perkins Coie and Wilmer Cutler Appear for Craigslist in South Carolina Suit
By Andrew Longstreth
May 20, 2009
Craigslist didn't get any love from South Carolina attorney general Henry McMaster following its decision last week to voluntarily remove the erotic services section of its site. McMaster had given Craigslist until May 15 to remove "portions of the Internet site dedicated to South Carolina and its municipal regions which contain categories for, and functions allowing for, the solicitation of prostitution and the dissemination and posting of graphic pornographic material.”On May 15, McMaster announced that the offending material was still there. "We have no alternative but to move forward with criminal investigation and potential prosecution," he said in a statement.
Craigslist told McMaster to back off on Wednesday in a suit filed in South Carolina federal court. The suit, prepared by lawyers at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr and Perkins Coie, seeks to stop McMaster from threatening the company and its executives from criminal prosecution in violation of the First Amendment and the commerce clause of the Constitution. Read the suit, here.
McMaster, in a statement, proclaimed that the suit was "good news," explaining, "It shows that Craigslist is taking the matter seriously for the first time." He added, "More importantly, overnight they have removed the erotic services section from their Web site, as we asked them to do. And they are now taking responsibility for the content of their future advertisements. If they keep their word, this is a victory for law enforcement and for the people of South Carolina."
