INDIANAPOLIS — A U.S. district court judge has paused a lawsuit over Indiana’s age verification law, pending the Supreme Court's ruling in the Free Speech Coalition-led challenge to Texas’ age verification law, HB 1181.
According to court documents, Magistrate Judge Mario Garcia granted the plaintiffs' motion for a stay of proceedings until the U.S. Supreme Court issues a ruling in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton. Oral arguments in that case are scheduled for Jan. 15.
Garcia granted the stay based on the plaintiffs' contention that a ruling in the Texas case "may moot or narrow the parties’ present disputes."
In his ruling, Garcia noted, "The issue before the Supreme Court in Paxton is a question of what standard of review is applicable to a law burdening adults' access to protected speech — rational basis vs. strict scrutiny. This question shares overlap with the various issues brought by Defendant in its appeal to the Seventh Circuit."
The defendant in the Indiana case is Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita, whose appeal to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals resulted in that court lifting a preliminary injunction against enforcement of Indiana's AV law.
Rokita has also filed an amicus brief arguing for the Supreme Court to uphold Texas' HB 1181.
Indiana lawmakers approved that state’s AV law earlier this year. It calls for adult websites to verify that users in the state are at least 18 years old. That bill took effect in August.
Critics have argued that such laws impinge on the rights of adults to access protected speech while doing little to curb minors from viewing explicit content. Pornhub has repeatedly blocked access in states with AV laws, stating that this is the only way it can comply with such laws. Pornhub parent company Aylo is a co-plaintiff in the Indiana case.
In January 2023, Louisiana became the first state to enact a law requiring age verification by porn websites. Utah, Virginia, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Texas quickly followed. This year saw Montana, North Carolina, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Nebraska, Alabama, and Oklahoma join the list, with Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, and South Carolina scheduled to do so next year.
FSC declined to comment as the case is in active litigation.