Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton
The Court Upholds Texas Age-Verification Requirement for Adult Websites
Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton was featured in Internet Pornography, Supreme Court Debates (March 2025). The following is excerpted from the 6-3 majority opinion written by Justice Clarence Thomas, as prepared by the Court Reporter of Decisions. H.B. 1181 triggers, and survives, review under intermediate scrutiny because it only incidentally burdens the protected speech of adults. To determine whether a law that regulates speech violates the First Amendment, the court considers both the nature of the burden imposed by the law and the nature of the speech at issue. Laws that target protected speech “based on its communicative content” are…
