A North Carolina law struck down by the Supreme Court will have an effect on some local court cases.

Monday, justices ruled unanimously that a state law banning registered sex offenders from using social media is unconstitutional. The state argued that the law serves the same purpose as those barring sex offenders from places where children visit, but in the virtual world of Facebook, Twitter and other social media.

“In sum, to foreclose access to social media altogether is to prevent the user from engaging in the legitimate exercise of First Amendment rights,” Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in his majority opinion.

Louisiana is the only other state with a similar law, though Louisiana’s law specifically targets sex offenders convicted of crimes against a child, as opposed to all sex offenders.

According to Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Charlie Rose, the ruling could affect cases currently in the court system, immediately and retroactively.

“If a decision comes down, and we’ve got cases that are pending, then everything has to stop,” Rose said. “I don’t know how many we have, and that’s all going to have be evaluated by the DA’s office as to how we’ll proceed.”

According to Rose, each case’s circumstances will have to be weighed individually to determine whether the use of social media that prompted a charge was predatory in nature — or not, as in the case heard before the Supreme Court, in which North Carolina resident Lester Packingham used an alias Facebook account to post about beating a traffic ticket in 2010. Despite the false name, a Durham police officer recognized Packingham, who had been convicted of statutory rape of a 13-year-old in 2002.

Rose said there are many stipulations and rules associated with sex offender registry and sheriff’s office would continue to follow the law.

“I do think that people can be victimized by use of social media,” Rose said. “But if that is no longer prohibited, then we’ll adjust accordingly.”