The U.S. Supreme Court on June 27 upheld a Texas law requiring age verification to access pornographic websites.
The majority opinion in the 6–3 decision in Free Speech Coalition Inc. v. Paxton was written by Justice Clarence Thomas.
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.
The decision affirms a federal appeals court decision that upheld the law known as H.B. 1181.
Although the law burdens, or interferes with, the rights of adult visitors to these websites, H.B. 1181 is consistent with the free speech clause of the First Amendment, the Supreme Court majority held….