Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is fighting to protect a Texas law that he says prevents the porn industry from targeting children with harmful content.
The law, passed in 2023 and signed into law by Texas Governor Greg Abbott, requires porn sites to verify the age of users through official documents such as a driver’s license or government-issued ID. is required. By law, failure to perform this age verification will result in fines.
Meanwhile, a group of porn sites calling themselves the Free Speech Coalition argues that the Texas law restricts First Amendment rights and imposes an unreasonable burden on Texas adults to access their content. There is.
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The two sides finally met face-to-face to argue their case in the Supreme Court this Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the nation’s highest court appears to have unanimously agreed with Paxton’s argument that the state has a vested interest in restricting children’s access to pornographic content. However, some justices appear to remain concerned that the Texas law’s prohibition is too broad and could impact other areas of free speech.
What is currently being debated in court is whether Texas law should be subject to “rational basis” or “strict scrutiny” review; The narrowest criteria would be required to maintain verification requirements.
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The U.S. Supreme Court will convene in Washington on November 15, 2023. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)
Whatever the court decides, it is likely to affect not only Texas law, but age verification laws for porn sites in more than a dozen other 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 judge’s comments made me feel very optimistic. I think we can win,” he said. “I feel really good. I think most of the judges will be in the right position.”
“The other side of the argument has acknowledged that we are interested in the protection of minors,” he continued. “They said the way we were doing it was some kind of overburdening of adults. So they made other suggestions, but those suggestions didn’t really work, and maybe that’s why they That’s why they don’t want age verification, because it actually works and affects their bottom line. ”
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Exterior of the Texas State Capitol Building photographed on September 5, 2023 in Austin, Texas. The Senate impeachment trial of former Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton begins today with Lt. Governor Dan Patrick presiding. Paxton faces several charges, including bribery, false statements and abuse of public trust. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
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In response to criticism that the law could violate free speech, Paxton said, “Look, I’m a big supporter of free speech. I think there are very few limits to free speech. But… We recognize the need to protect children in all kinds of areas.” In many ways, we didn’t make them sign contracts, we didn’t let them get married until they were 18, we didn’t serve them alcohol, we didn’t let them smoke, we protected our children. it’s been [throughout] Our entire history. ”
“No matter where you look in the developed world, no matter where you look, [else]”Our children are protected. It’s my job to enforce the laws of the state of Texas,” he added. In this case, I feel very secure in protecting my children from having this in front of them. ”
Peter Pinedo is a political writer for Fox News Digital.
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