Fox News reported that a prominent pornography website has begun blocking users from Texas after the state passed a law requiring it to verify their age.

Two activist groups are challenging the law, and they asked that it be put on hold while litigation plays out. However, the Supreme Court just rejected their request.

Groups says law is unconstitutional

According to The Hill, the request was brought forward by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and an adult industry trade organization known as the Free Speech Coalition.

They maintain that the Texas law infringes on the First Amendment by requiring website users to submit personal information.

The Supreme Court refused to block a Texas law that required pornographic websites to verify a user’s age.

The law requires that websites verify that users in Texas are at least 18 years old before they can access pornographic content on the site. https://t.co/e2KRSd4sur

— The Hill (@thehill) April 30, 2024

The statute imposes fines of $10,000 per violation, and that penalty can be raised to $250,000 if a minor visits a pornographic website.

"Specifically, the act requires adults to comply with intrusive age verification measures that mandate the submission of personally identifying information over the internet in order to access websites containing sensitive and intimate content," the groups' filing asserts.

Texas AG: Pornographers must take "reasonable steps" to protect minors

However, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton replied in a filing of his own that the law "simply requires the pornography industry that makes billions of dollars from peddling smut to take commercially reasonable steps to ensure that those who access the material are adults."

As The Hill explained, while a federal judge initially blocked the law in its entirety, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit partially reversed the ruling in March.

The appeals court allowed the law's age verification requirement to stand but ruled against a provision mandating that websites publish health warnings about pornography use.

Mike Stabile is a spokesperson for the Free Speech Coalition, and he told The Hill that this case concerns "the right to access the internet without intrusive government oversight."

Nine other states have passed similar laws

"While the Supreme Court has denied our application to stay the Fifth Circuit's decision upholding age verification requirements in Texas, our petition for full merits review before the Supreme Court remains pending," Stabile stated.

"The ruling by the Fifth Circuit remains in direct opposition to decades of Supreme Court precedent, and we remain hopeful that the Supreme Court will grant our petition for certiorari and reaffirm its lengthy line of cases applying strict scrutiny to content-based restrictions on speech like those in the Texas statute we've challenged," he went on to insist.

The Hill noted that the outcome of this case has implications beyond Texas, as Arkansas, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Oklahoma, Utah, and Virginia have all implemented similar age verification laws.