The Supreme Court has indicated it will take up a case next term involving the adult entertainment industry’s challenge to a Texas law that requires pornography sites to implement age verification measures.
The Free Speech Coalition, a trade association representing the industry, is asking the court to reinstate an order blocking the Lone Star State’s enforcement of the law, which it claims violates the First Amendment.
“While purportedly seeking to limit minors’ access to sexual content online, the law imposes significant burdens on adults’ access to constitutionally protected expression,” the petition says.
“Of central importance here, it requires all users, including adults, to submit personally identifiable information to access sensitive and intimate content through a medium – the Internet – that presents unique security and privacy concerns,” it continues.
The law requires pornography websites to use age verification measures to determine whether visitors to the websites are at least 18 years old and to post warnings about the alleged harms of pornography.
A district judge blocked Texas from enforcing the law shortly before it took effect last September. However, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals partially reversed the lower court’s decision in March.
The federal appeals court vacated the order that blocked age verification requirements from being enforced, but held that porn sites could not be forced to post warnings about their content.
Following the ruling, Pornhub shut down its Texas site, arguing that requiring people to provide identification every time they visit the site “is not an effective solution to protect users online.”
The Coalition for Freedom of Expression filed its petition with the Supreme Court in April, also asking for a stay pending the court’s ruling. However, the high court rejected his request to block the law in the meantime.
Age verification laws like the one in Texas have proliferated at the state level in recent years, both for websites hosting adult content and for social media platforms, prompting numerous legal challenges from groups like the Free Speech Coalition and NetChoice .
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
