The question
Whether a Texas law requiring age verification to access websites with sexual content violates the First Amendment rights of adults.
Free Speech Coalition, Inc. v. Paxton
What the Court decided
The Court upheld a Texas law that requires pornography websites to verify that visitors are adults. It held the law only incidentally burdens adults' protected speech and survives the intermediate level of First Amendment scrutiny, because the state has a legitimate interest in keeping minors from online sexual material.
How the justices split
6-3The Court's opinion
Thomas, joined by Roberts, Alito, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, Barrett
Requiring age verification to reach material that is obscene as to minors only incidentally burdens adults, who have no First Amendment right to avoid proving their age. Intermediate scrutiny applies and the law satisfies it because verifying age is a reasonable way to advance the state's interest in shielding children.
Dissenting
Kagan, joined by Sotomayor, Jackson
The dissent argued the law directly burdens adults' access to protected speech and should face strict scrutiny, the most demanding test. It warned that requiring people to hand over identifying information to view lawful content will chill protected expression.
How we know · 3 sourced claims
The Court held the Texas age-verification law survives intermediate scrutiny and only incidentally burdens adults' protected speech.
Source: syllabus, Held, at 23-1122
The Court applied intermediate rather than strict scrutiny.
Source: opinion of the Court (Thomas, J.)
Thomas, J., wrote for the Court; Kagan, J., dissented, joined by Sotomayor and Jackson, JJ.
Source: syllabus, lineup