On Friday, American Principles Project (APP) filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court supporting Texas’s law requiring age verification for adult websites as part of the upcoming case Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton.
The brief argues that “obscenity as to minors” is not protected speech under the First Amendment and that the technological assumptions in previous related cases are outdated, as the internet has become far more available and age-verification methods are much more effective and less burdensome. It further makes the case for why this issue is best left to the states as the “laboratories of democracy.” To date, 19 states have passed laws requiring age verification for adult sites.
You can find more background on this issue as well as on APP’s efforts at ProtectKidsOnline.us.
APP President Terry Schilling released the following statement on the importance of the upcoming case:
“The current epidemic of online pornography use has been a disaster for our society—and especially for our children. Thanks to advances in technology, a child today on average first encounters porn at age 12, and research has shown that kids’ exposure to this material often leads to mental health issues, relationship difficulties, and a higher risk of sexual abuse among many other negative consequences.
“Shielding children from this content ought to be a no-brainer, and the vast majority of Americans agree. There is no reason why legislators should not be able to hold adult websites accountable for keeping their material away from minors. To argue that the First Amendment protects the ability of kids to access porn is obviously absurd—a desperate argument by a threatened, predatory industry.
“We urge the Supreme Court to side with common sense and uphold Texas’s law.”