Regulating Online Access to Protect Minors: Constitutional Challenges, Legislative Trends, and Privacy Consequences

Joseph M. Cacace | Todd & Weld LLP

Joe Cacace is a seasoned trial lawyer who represents clients in complex business litigation and high-stakes commercial disputes. He has significant experience litigating contract claims, shareholder and partnership disputes, breach of fiduciary duty matters, trade secret misappropriation, non-competition and non-solicitation cases, and other corporate conflicts in both state and federal courts. Known for his strategic insight and courtroom skill, Joe helps businesses and individuals protect their interests and resolve disputes efficiently and effectively.

In addition to his business litigation practice, Joe is widely recognized for his work in First Amendment, defamation, and media law. He regularly represents clients in cases involving reputational harm, free speech, and press-related matters, offering experience that complements his business litigation practice, where reputational issues often intersect with corporate disputes.

Joe’s clients include business owners, executives, media entities, and individuals facing reputational or financial risk. He is frequently sought out for his ability to manage high-profile, sensitive litigation while maintaining focus on achieving favorable outcomes.

Mr. Cacace has served on the Amicus Brief and Appellate-Bench Bar Committees of the Massachusetts Bar Association, and the Board of Governors of the Law Clerks’ Society of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. He also served on the Large Law Firm Subcommittee of the Supreme Judicial Court’s Steering Committee on Lawyer Well-Being.

Mr. Cacace is a frequent presenter on civil litigation topics and has commented in the media on various legal issues.

Prior to joining Todd & Weld, Mr. Cacace was a litigator at a large Boston-based multinational law firm. He served as a law clerk to the Honorable Robert J. Cordy of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.

Mark P. Meuser | Chalmers, Adams, Backer & Kaufman, LLC

Mark Meuser is a constitutional and civil rights litigator known for challenging powerful adversaries on behalf of underrepresented clients. His precedent-setting victory in Gilstrap v. United Airlines before the Ninth Circuit created a vital pathway for disabled Americans to hold airlines accountable under federal law.

His practice focuses on constitutional, election, and political law. With more than 35 years of political experience—including legislative drafting, committee advocacy, and campaigns for California Secretary of State (2018) and U.S. Senate (2022)—he brings deep insight into the intersection of law and public policy. He has served as counsel to national and state party committees, religious organizations, and congressional campaigns.

In 2024, Mark served as counsel to President Trump’s campaign in nationwide 14th Amendment ballot access litigation. His election law experience includes recounts in six states, Election Day war room operations, and post-election audits.

During COVID, he was involved in more than three dozen lawsuits challenging government overreach, advised on over a hundred additional cases, and participated in four cases before the United States Supreme Court that limited asserted emergency powers, including litigation reopening churches, schools, and businesses and the successful challenge to President Biden’s OSHA vaccine mandate. He also authors amicus briefs before the United States Supreme Court and federal appellate courts, grounding constitutional arguments in detailed historical analysis.

Lee Watt | Watt Firm PLLC

He earned a B. Accountancy degree from the University of Mississippi in 1981 and a Juris Doctor from the University of Mississippi in 1983.

He has more than forty years of experience in private law practice focused on litigation and is rated AV Preeminent. In addition to his litigation practice, he serves as a business consultant for strategic development. For seven years, he taught Law Office Management at Mississippi College School of Law, with an emphasis on human resources, accounting, and marketing.

His litigation experience includes trying dozens of jury cases to verdict involving product liability, shareholder rights, eminent domain, banking, employment, construction, insurance, civil rights, premises liability, and transportation matters. He has also tried approximately 80 bench trials involving annexation, fiduciary, and real estate disputes, and has over thirty years of experience managing mass tort cases.

His administrative experience includes representing local governmental entities such as fire, utility, and school districts, as well as handling governmental relations related to tax incentives, permitting, and litigation matters at both the local and state levels.

His commercial experience includes work in mergers and acquisitions, shareholder rights, business origination, and economic development initiatives.

He is a member of The Mississippi Bar, serving on the Ethics, Technology & Court Liaison, and Judicial Administration Committees; the Mississippi Defense Lawyers Association; the American Bar Association Tort Litigation Committee; and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. He also serves as a Commissioner of the Jackson County Port Authority as a gubernatorial appointee.

He is a frequent speaker on continuing legal education programs focusing on trial practice and probate litigation.

I. The Supreme Court’s role in defining state authority | 1:00pm – 1:10pm

II. Commerce Clause concerns with state-by-state regulation | 1:10pm – 1:20pm

III. First Amendment challenges: Free speech and privacy | 1:20pm – 1:30pm

IV. Policy motivations and legislative trends driving age-verification laws | 1:30pm – 1:40pm

• Bipartisan appeal: Shared and divergent rationales among state lawmakers

V. Privacy and data protection concerns raised by verification requirements | 1:40pm – 1:50pm

VI. Alternative solutions that better achieve online safety and address individual free speech and privacy concerns | 1:50pm – 2:00pm

Break | 2:00pm – 2:10pm

VII. Mississippi’s law regulating digital service providers | 2:10pm – 2:20pm

VIII. Protect minors from exposure to and access to harmful online material | 2:20pm – 2:40pm

• Age verification
• Parental consent for minors
• Limiting data collection from minors
• Mandating mitigation of harmful content to minors

IX. Impetus for the legislation | 2:40pm – 2:50pm

X. First Amendment considerations | 2:50pm – 3:00pm

XI. Litigation seeking to enjoin its enforcement | 3:00pm – 3:10pm