Name of Course: Bartnicki v. Vopper
Citation: 532 U.S. 514
Date of Decision: 2001
Vote: 6-3
Author of Opinion: Stevens
Legal Topics: Constitutional Law, Civil Law,
Posture of the Case: The Bartnicki V. Vopper case began in the Pennsylvania District Court, which rejected the first statutory argument and concluded that ‘an individual violates a federal act by disclosing the contents of electronic information intentionally when he or she knows that the information was obtained through an illegal interception’. Upon appeal, the decision was reviewed and reversed by the United States Court of Appeals Third Circuit under certiorari of the United States Supreme Court in regard to the First amendment’s freedom of speech.
