WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court on June 27 upheld a Texas law requiring pornographic websites verify users are at least 18, in a case that pitted concerns about protecting minors against worries about violating the First Amendment rights of adults.
The court split 6-3 along ideologically grounds with the three liberal justices dissenting.
The majority said Texas’ law advances an important interest of shielding children from sexually explicit content and doesn’t overly burden adults because it relies on “established methods of providing government-issued identification and sharing transactional data.”
The use of pornography has always been the subject of social stigma, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote for the majority.