The American Library Association does not have the legal standing to challenge the Act on behalf of school libraries.
Courts require individuals or organizations to establish a direct injury to permit a legal suit.
In order to challenge the Children's Internet Protection Act, an individual or organization must establish that they are the direct recipient of the federal funds at issue, a user of the entity required to filter or a content provider that will be blocked by filtering technology. School libraries are not the direct recipients of federal funds under this statute, but rather receive funding through their individual schools. The school entities that apply, receive and oversee the federal funds at issue under these statutes are not members of the American Library Association. The school libraries that are members of the American Library Association do not function independently of the schools for purposes of funding under the statutes, and, as a result, do not have legal standing. The American Library Association believes strongly that the Children's Internet Protection Act is unconstitutional in both the context of the public library and the school library.