By: Paul Goldberg, Senior Editor | JRL CHARTS – LGBT Politics USA
WASHINGTON, D.C. — (June 27, 2025) — The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to uphold Texas’ controversial age verification law for accessing adult content online has ignited swift and scathing condemnation from free speech advocates, legal experts, and the adult entertainment industry.
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Alison Boden, Executive Director of the Free Speech Coalition, warned of far-reaching implications:
“As it has been throughout history, pornography is once again the canary in the coal mine of free expression… This law has failed to keep minors away from sexual content yet continues to have a massive chilling effect on adults.”
Industry attorney Corey Silverstein called the ruling “a major blow to the First Amendment, free speech and the entire adult entertainment industry.” He emphasized the broader threat, stating:
“Future challenges against laws like Texas’ age verification are going to have a difficult time moving forward… This decision will embolden states… to pursue enforcement actions sooner rather than later.”
Aaron Mackey, Litigation Director for Free Speech & Transparency at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, described the ruling as:
“A direct blow to the free speech rights of adults… These are real and immense burdens… and the court was wrong to ignore them in upholding Texas’ law.”
Attorney Lawrence Walters also voiced concern:
“Application of intermediate scrutiny to this type of law is an unfortunate development for the First Amendment, user privacy and the adult industry… Future cases will determine the scope of First Amendment protection.”
Bob Corn-Revere, Chief Counsel at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, issued a stark warning:
“This wrongheaded, invasive result overturns a generation of precedent… Americans will live to regret the day we let the government condition access to protected speech on proof of our identity.”
Kagan Blasts Majority for “Backwards Reasoning”
In a powerful dissent, Justice Elena Kagan lambasted the majority decision, writing:
“In today’s opinion, speech rights are pushed to the sidelines, or entirely off the field.”
She argued that Texas’ law imposes a direct, content-based regulation of speech and should be subject to strict scrutiny, not the intermediate scrutiny standard the court applied.
Kagan also cited the chilling effect on users forced to identify themselves to access protected expression:
“The requirement… is a deterrent, imposing a chilling effect.”
She accused the court of “backwards reasoning”:
“It is not to assume the conclusion… and pick the standard sure to arrive there.”
In a final warning, she added:
“The First Amendment protects those sexually explicit materials, for every adult. So a State cannot target that expression, as Texas has here, any more than is necessary to prevent it from reaching children.”
Nationwide Legal Ramifications Expected
The Supreme Court’s decision is expected to catalyze enforcement in states with similar laws and embolden others like Indiana and Florida to move forward. Legal experts anticipate renewed legislative efforts across the country, many of which had been paused pending the Texas outcome.
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