Pornography case at Supreme Court this week speaks to child protection, Republican AG says
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is fighting to uphold a Texas law it says prevents the porn industry from targeting children with harmful content.
Adopted in 2023 and signed by Texas Governor Greg Abbottthe law requires pornographic sites to verify the user’s age through official documentation such as a driver’s license or official ID card. Under the law, failure to implement this age verification results in fines.
Meanwhile, a collection of porn sites calling itself the Free Speech Coalition argues that the Texas law limits their First Amendment rights and places an unnecessary burden on Texas adults to access their content.
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Dozens of plaintiffs accuse Pornhub and its parent company MindGeek of monetizing sexual abuse. (Adrien Fillon/NurPhoto)
Pornhub, the most popular adult content website in the country, has gone so far as to disable access to their website for all users in Texas after the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the law was upheld.
The two sides finally faced off this Wednesday to make their case before Supreme Court.
For its part, the nation’s highest court seems united in agreeing with Paxton’s argument that states have a vested interest in limiting children’s access to pornographic content. However, some judges appear to remain concerned whether the Texas law’s prohibitions are too broad and could affect other areas expression of freedom of speech.
The question before the court now is whether the Texas law should be subject to “rational basis” or “strict scrutiny,” the latter of which would require Texas to meet the narrowest standards in order to comply with the age verification requirement.
The US Supreme Court is seen on November 15, 2023 in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)
Either way, the court’s decision is likely to affect not only the Texas law, but more than a dozen other age-verification laws for porn sites in states across the country.
In an interview with Fox News Digital after the hearing, Paxton said he was confident the Supreme Court would rule in Texas’ favor.
“Hearing the questions and seeing the judges’ comments, I feel very optimistic, I think we’re going to win this,” he said. “I feel really good about that. I think most of the judges will come down on the right side.”
“Even the other side, presenting its arguments, admitted that it is in our interest to protect minors,” he continued. “They just said the way we do it is kind of overloading adults, so they offered other suggestions, those suggestions don’t really work and that’s probably why they offered them, they don’t want age verification because it actually works and affects their earnings.”
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The exterior of the Texas State Capitol building is seen on September 5, 2023 in Austin, Texas. The Senate impeachment trial of former Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton begins today, with Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick presiding over the proceedings. Paxton faces several charges including bribery, making false statements and breach of public trust. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
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In response to criticism of the bill potentially infringing on free speech, Paxton said, “Look, I’m a big supporter of free speech. I see very few restrictions on free speech. However, we recognize that we have to protect children in all kinds of ways by not allowing them to sign contracts , we don’t allow them to get married until they turn 18, we don’t allow them to serve themselves alcohol, we don’t allow them to buy tobacco. we have protected children, it was [throughout] our entire history.”
“If you look anywhere in the developed world or anywhere [else]the children are protected,” he added. “My job is to enforce Texas law. In this case, I feel very comfortable protecting our children from having this put in front of them.”
