As the Supreme Court dons its robes for yet another round of cases this January, it finds itself with a plate loaded with some of the most volatile issues of our times. Somewhere between wading through matters of excessive force, accessibility under the ADA, and financial deception, the justices will take on a battle of cultural, political, and constitutional proportions: the First Amendment fight over Texas’ new age-verification law. At the center is Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton — a case that invites the Court to decide if Texas and other states crusade against anonymous internet access is a defense of “the children” or a stealthy attack on free speech dressed up as a public good.
The Texas statute in question is a piece of legislation with a familiar pitch: protecting minors from online “harmful” content, chiefly pornography. But in Texas’ playbook, “harmful” is conveniently broad, designed to cover any content the state deems inappropriate for minors. The law, requiring websites to verify a visitor’s age, and so pushes digital ID verification, was enthusiastically upheld by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled that the law did not infringe upon First Amendment rights, brushing off concerns over adults’ access to legal content with a casual confidence that would make a poker player sweat.
