Attorney General Ken Paxton
AUSTIN – Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has secured an important victory over a host of pornography companies, including Pornhub, that sought to prevent a state law known as HB 1181 from taking effect.
HB 1181 requires purveyors of obscene materials online to institute reasonable age-verification measures to safeguard children from pornography. Pornhub and other organizations sued Texas, initially obtaining an injunction from a district court. However, Attorney General Paxton immediately appealed and secured a stay, allowing him to enforce the law. Now, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has partially vacated the original injunction, ruling that the age verification requirements are constitutional.
“Applying rational-basis review, the age-verification requirement is rationally related to the government’s legitimate interest in preventing minors’ access to pornography,” the court explained. “Therefore, the age-verification requirement does not violate the First Amendment.”
While the court vacated the injunction against the age-verification requirement of the statute, it upheld the lower court’s injunction against a separate section of the law that would require pornography websites to display a health warning on their landing page and all advertisements.
To read the decision, click here.
