Supreme Court Rules on Age Verification for Porn Sites in Case Challenging First Amendment Rights

“The statute advances the State’s important interest in shielding children from sexually explicit content,” conservative Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in the majority opinion.

“And, it is appropriately tailored because it permits users to verify their ages through the established methods of providing government-issued identification and sharing transactional data.”

The plaintiffs had expressed fears that the age verification rules would lead to identity theft and cause other other compliance problems.

But Thomas wrote that the “specific verification methods that H. B. 1181 permits are … plainly legitimate.”

“Verification can take place on the covered website itself or through a third-party service,” he noted. “Other age-restricted services, such as online gambling, alcohol and tobacco sales, and car rentals, rely on the same methods.”

Thomas also brushed aside arguments that, due to the stigma of pornography use, adults would not want to submit to age verification, suggesting that third-party services can ensure adequate privacy.

Liberal Justice Elena Kagan wrote the dissent for the left flank of the court. She acknowledged that “[n]o one doubts that the distribution of sexually explicit speech to children, of the sort involved here, can cause great harm.”

But she argued that the Texas law went too far.

“Speech that is obscene for minors is often not so for adults. For them, the category of obscene—and therefore unprotected speech—is narrower,” she wrote. “So adults have a constitutional right to view the very same speech that a State may prohibit for children.”

“What if Texas could do better—what if Texas could achieve its interest without so interfering with adults’ constitutionally protected rights in viewing the speech?”

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican who is vying for the Senate next year, hailed the decision as a “major victory for children, parents, and the ability of states to protect minors from the damaging effects of online pornography.”

“Companies have no right to expose children to pornography and must institute reasonable age verification measures,” he said in a statement. “I will continue to enforce the law against any organization that refuses to take the necessary steps to protect minors from explicit materials.”