WASHINGTON — The United States Supreme Court granted on Tuesday the petition for a writ of certiorari in the Free Speech Coalition-led challenge to Texas’ age verification law, agreeing to hear the case in the next term.
As XBIZ reported, HB 1181 was passed by the Texas legislature in May 2023 and is a much-augmented version of Louisiana’s age verification law and its many copycat versions in other states. At the time, the FSC condemned the law as “blatantly unconstitutional” and a “violation of the First Amendment rights of creators, consumers and platforms.”
In August 2023, FSC filed a legal challenge in Texas over HB 1181, which is still ongoing, even after the 5th Circuit ruling. Joining the FSC as co-plaintiffs were an array of adult platforms and workers, including MG Premium LTD; MG Freesites LTD (now Aylo companies); Webgroup Czech Republic, A.S.; NKL Associates, S.R.O.; Sonesta Technologies, S.R.O.; Sonesta Media, S.R.O.; Yellow Production S.R.O.; Paper Street Media, LLC; Neptune Media, LLC; Mediame SRL; Midus Holdings, Inc.; and Jane Doe, an adult content creator.
The group of plaintiffs in Free Speech Coaliton v. Paxton is represented by the American Civil Liberties Union and the law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan.
They argue that Texas’ HB 1181, if left standing, would improperly burden free speech online. The law was authored by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton, reportedly with input from pastor Mike Buster of the Prestonwood Baptist megachurch, to which the Paxtons belong.
In March, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals partially upheld HB 1181. The Supreme Court has previously rebuked the 5th Circuit Court for eccentric, politicized rulings, most recently last week when ruling against the court’s defense of state interference in social media platforms’ content.
FSC Director of Communication Mike Stabile told XBIZ in April that the HB 19981 ruling by the 5th Circuit “remains in direct opposition to decades of Supreme Court precedent, and we remain hopeful that the Supreme Court will reaffirm its lengthy line of cases applying strict scrutiny to content-based restrictions on speech like those in the Texas statute we’ve challenged. We will continue to fight for the right to access the internet without intrusive government oversight.”
Vera Eidelman, staff attorney with the ACLU Speech, Privacy and Technology Project said at the time, “Though it purportedly seeks to limit minors’ access to online sexual content, the law in fact imposes significant burdens on adults’ access to constitutionally-protected expression, requiring them to provide personal identifying information online to access sensitive, intimate content.”
Eidelman added, “This is not the first time that concerns about minors’ access have led legislators to pass unconstitutional laws. We’ve gone through this time and again, with everything from drive-in movies to video games to websites, and courts have repeatedly struck down laws imposing requirements that burden adults’ access to non-obscene sexual content in the name of protecting children.”