Supreme Court to decide if Texas can require porn sites to use age verification

July 3, 2024

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether the State of Texas can require pornographic websites to verify the age of its users or whether that requirement constitutes a violation of free speech.

The Christian Post reports that the high court has granted certiorari in the case of Free Speech Coalition et al v. Paxton, Attorney General of Texas. Texas Governor Gregg Abbott signed House Bill 1181 into law in June of 2023.

That law requires porn sites to verify a user’s age or face the possibility of a $10,000 a day fine.

In response, the Free Speech Coalition filed a complaint on behalf of the adult entertainment industry against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. According to the Christian Post, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 in March in favor of the verification law, overturning a lower court decision that blocked its enforcement.

Circuit Judge Jerry E. Smith, commenting for the majority in that ruling, stated, “Applying rational-basis review, the age-verification requirement is rationally related to the government’s legitimate interest in preventing minors’ access to pornography.”

Smith went on to say, “The record is replete with examples of the sort of damage that access to pornography does to children … That is far more than what is necessary to demonstrate that the legislature did not act irrationally.”

Pornhub announced that same month that it would block access to its site in Texas, claiming that the state law was “ineffective, haphazard, and dangerous” and that it violated “the rights of adults to access protected speech.”

In a one sentence miscellaneous order, the Texas Supreme Court declined to block enforcement of the law in late April while legal proceedings continued.

Photo: top, Credit: Getty Images/Ethan Miller