WASHINGTON — The United States Supreme Court has scheduled oral arguments for Free Speech Coalition's challenge to Texas’ age verification law to take place Wednesday, Jan. 15.
In March, the 5th 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 5th Circuit applied a lower level of scrutiny to the law than was warranted.
In a statement, FSC Executive Director Alison Boden said, “While Texas’ law may sound reasonable on its face, in practice, it is extraordinarily burdensome and invasive, effectively deterring adults from accessing legal content. 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.”
Industry attorney Corey D. Silverstein, who, along with attorney Lawrence Walters, filed an amicus brief on behalf of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Woodhull Freedom Foundation and TechFreedom, expressed confidence that the Texas law will be sent back to the 5th Circuit with a mandate to apply strict scrutiny.
“I am exceptionally optimistic about the prospects,” he told XBIZ. ”I think it's very clear that the 5th 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 5th Circuit back in its place.”