The U.S. Supreme Court seemed inclined on Jan. 15 to allow a Texas law requiring age verification to access porn websites to stand.
The court heard more than two hours of oral argument in Free Speech Coalition Inc. v. Paxton.
The petitioner, the Free Speech Coalition, describes itself as the “nonprofit non-partisan trade association for the adult industry.” The respondent, Ken Paxton, is the attorney general of Texas.
In August 2023, a federal district court temporarily blocked the age verification requirement, as well as a requirement that the websites post health hazard warnings about pornography use.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reversed in March 2024, upholding the law’s hazard warning mandate and overturning the lower court’s injunction against the verification provision….