Supreme Court Upholds Texas Age-Verification Law for Porn Sites

The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 Friday regarding a Texas law that makes it more difficult for children to access pornography. 

The ruling in the case of Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton could have a larger reach beyond the Lone Star State. Texas joined 19 other states to require pornographic websites to verify their users are age 18 or older. 

Justices ruled along ideolgical lines, with the three liberals voting against it. Justice Clarence Thomas wrote the majority opinion.

Free Speech Coalition, a porn industry trade association, sued the state, naming Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton as the defendant. 

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case in January. 

The plaintiffs argued the law interferes with adults’ access to “constitutionally protected expression,” and that requiring them to provide identifying information raises privacy concerns.

Texas has asked for the case to apply a “rational-basis review.” That means the law survives as long as the state shows a rational reason for it. 

The law came from Texas bill HB 1181, which required online pornographers to take steps to use commercially reasonable age-verification technology. The statute applies to entities that knowingly post material on the internet “more than one-third of which is sexual material harmful to minors.”