Republicans in Congress are circling the wagons to support a Texas law to shield children from “one of the largest public health crises of the digital age: internet pornography.”
Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT) and John Cornyn (R-TX), and Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), along with 20 other Members of Congress, filed an amicus brief to the Supreme Court, first obtained by Breitbart News, in support of the law.
The brief’s authors argue that the court should affirm the judgment of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which upheld the age verification requirement in March 2024.
That Texas law, passed in 2023, mandates adult websites require state-issued identification from users. It was challenged in court by a trade association, calling itself the Free Speech Coalition, representing the adult entertainment industry, that argued it violates First Amendment free speech rights.
The amicus brief, known as a “friend of the court” brief, makes the case for the constitutionality of the law as well as its significance for protecting public health.
“Companies are profiting from exposing children to adult content, and it must stop,” Lee said in a statement provided to Breitbart. “This initiative by Texas reflects the age-verification measures I am fighting for at the federal level with the SCREEN Act, and American families everywhere should be cheering these efforts to protect kids online.”
Lee’s cleverly named Shielding Children’s Retinas from Egregious Exposure on the Net (SCREEN) Act was filed as the Utah Senator has taken the lead in the Upper Chamber in the fight to protect children from the harms of pornography.
His ally Roy, hailing from Texas where the battle originated, has taken the lead in the House.
“The government has an obvious and unquestionable duty in keeping children off porn sites; decades of relatively unfettered access to obscene online content under insufficient policies have done tremendous damage to our country,” Roy said in a statement provided to Breitbart. “Texas’s law does this by simply requiring adults to prove their age, as should be the case with age-restricted items. That’s why I expect Attorney General Paxton’s case to succeed at the Supreme Court and am proud to join Mike Lee in defense of it.”
In his brief to the Supreme Court, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R-TX) argued, “There is nothing unconstitutional” about the law.
“This statute does not prohibit the performance, production, or even sale of pornography but, more modestly, simply requires the pornography industry… to take commercially reasonable steps to ensure that those who access the material are adults,” Paxton wrote.
The amicus brief explains why its authors have an interest in the matter, making the case the law is in the public’s interest.
“As Members of Congress, they have a strong interest in drafting and passing legislation that protects children from one of the largest public health crises of the digital age: internet pornography,” the brief reads. “Recognizing the well-documented psychological, behavioral, and health detriments caused by children’s exposure to pornography, amici have proposed and support legislation to curb minors’ access to such content.”
The brief further explains, “As staunch advocates for both First Amendment rights and children’s welfare, amici believe that such age verification laws strike an appropriate balance between individual liberties and the compelling government interest in protecting children from pornography, in a manner that is in line with this Court’s precedents.”
Camera-ready Amicus Br. of Mike Lee Et Al., Free Speech Coal. v. Paxton 11.22.24 by Breitbart News on Scribd
Lee, Roy, and the other authors close with a powerful case for regulation of the porn industry:
Today, the porn industry is estimated to have annual global revenue of as much as $97 billion. Its revenue for the past 20 years or more has exceeded the revenue of all three major sports leagues, combined. As a compelling modern metric, “[p]ornography websites get more visitors each month than Netflix, Amazon, and Twitter combined.”
Like the unprecedented revenue and traffic figures, pornography has never before posed a bigger risk to minors, who can so innocently come across the content on the web, and be subjected to the trauma that follows.
The full list of amici is:
Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT), John Cornyn (R-TX), Josh Hawley (R-MO), James Lankford (R-OK), and Rick Scott (R-FL) and Reps. Chip Roy (R-TX), Josh Brecheen (R-OK), Dan Bishop (R-NC), Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Michael Cloud (R-TX), Andrew Clyde (R-GA), Dan Crenshaw (R-TX), Tony Gonzales (R-TX), Lance Gooden (R-TX), Andy Harris (R-MD), Clay Higgins (R-LA), Wesley Hunt (R-TX), Ronny Jackson (R-TX), Mary Miller (R-IL), Troy Nehls (R-TX), Andy Ogles (R-TN), Keith Self (R-TX), and Pete Sessions (R-TX).
Bradley Jaye is a Capitol Hill Correspondent for Breitbart News. Follow him on X/Twitter at @BradleyAJaye.