WASHINGTON — The United States Supreme Court has scheduled oral arguments for the Free Speech Coalition’s (FSC) challenge to Texas’ age verification law for Wednesday, Jan. 15.

In March, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the age verification mandate in Texas’ HB 1181, which was challenged by FSC, the American Civil Liberties Union, and ACLU of Texas, along with several co-plaintiffs, on the grounds that it is unconstitutional. The plaintiffs then petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court, saying that the Fifth Circuit applied a lower level of scrutiny to the law than was warranted.

“While Texas’ law may sound reasonable on its face, in practice, it is extraordinarily burdensome and invasive, effectively deterring adults from accessing legal content,” said FSC Executive Director Alison Boden in a statement from the organization. “To make matters worse, this law — and ones like it — fail at their stated goal of protecting children online, despite forcing adult content creators and consumers to operate under the threat of surveillance and censorship. We look forward to making our case before the Court.”

Adult industry attorney Corey D. Silverstein, who, along with attorney Lawrence Walters filed an amicus brief on behalf of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), Woodhull Freedom Foundation, and TechFreedom, expressed his confidence in the law being sent back to the Fifth Circuit.

“I am exceptionally optimistic about the prospects,” he told XBIZ. ”I think it’s very clear that the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals got this case wrong, and I believe that this U.S. Supreme Court is eager to correct this wrong and put the Fifth Circuit back in its place.”