A law requiring age verification for people visiting porn sites in Texas was struck down by a judge who says it does little protect minors from viewing sexually explicit material.
Wilfredo Lee/AP
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Wilfredo Lee/AP
A law requiring age verification for people visiting porn sites in Texas was struck down by a judge who says it does little protect minors from viewing sexually explicit material.
Wilfredo Lee/AP
A federal judge has blocked a Texas law requiring age verification and a health warning for viewing pornographic websites, a day before the law was set to take effect.
U.S. District Judge David Ezra found that the law violates First Amendment free speech rights and is too vague, in a ruling on Thursday in favor of the Free Speech Coalition, an adult entertainment industry trade association that filed the lawsuit.
Ezra said the age verification component in House Bill 1181, signed by Gov. Greg Abbott in June, “is constitutionally problematic because it deters adults’ access to legal sexually explicit material, far beyond the interest of protecting minors.”
The judge’s ruling prevents the state attorney general, the defendant in the case, from enforcing the law. The attorney general’s office has filed a notice of appeal with the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Louisiana.
Ezra said age verification also raises privacy concerns. One of the two methods allowed for age verification under the law is through government-issued ID; given the…