Supreme Court Upholds Texas Age Verification Law for Porn Websites

On Friday, the Supreme Court confirmed Texas legislation that mandates pornographic websites to verify the age of their visitors.

In a decision of 6-3, the Court asserted that Texas’ age verification law does not infringe upon the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment.

“The authority to require age verification lies within a state’s power to prevent minors from accessing sexually explicit content,” stated Judge Clarence Thomas in the majority opinion. “HB 1181 represents a constitutionally valid use of this authority.”

Justices Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented. Kagan remarked, “States might not be overly concerned about safeguarding adults’ access to sexually explicit content. There could be a preference to limit such materials for everyone. Many people find the content in question problematic.” She emphasized that the First Amendment protects such material for adult audiences.

The Texas law obligates any site displaying “sexual material that is harmful to minors” to verify that users are over 18. In response to this law, PornHub completely disabled access for Texas users last year.

As of now, 24 states have enacted similar age verification measures.

This case emerged from a lawsuit by an advocacy group representing online porn distributors, arguing that the law infringes on adults’ First Amendment rights.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton expressed in a statement, “This is a major win for children, parents, and the nation’s capacity to shield minors from the dangers posed by online pornography. Companies shouldn’t expose kids to such material and must implement effective age verification processes. I will pursue legal action against those refusing to take these necessary steps.”

This is an ongoing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.