Today, Explained Porn on the docket
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Jun 30, 2025 
Mark Joseph Stern, a legal writer for Slate and co-host of the SCOTUS podcast, teams up with Ian Millhiser, Vox's Supreme Court correspondent, to dive into the intriguing intersection of pornography and the law. They discuss the Supreme Court's history with porn cases and the unusual practice of justices having to watch it in the past. They also tackle contemporary issues like age verification laws, balancing child protection with free speech, and the evolving landscape of First Amendment protections concerning sexual content.
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Texas Porn Law Age Verification
- Texas law mandates porn sites verify users are over 18 to access sexually explicit content.
- Sites face heavy fines if they allow minors to access such materials under this law.
Court's Middle-Ground Scrutiny Standard
- Supreme Court applied intermediate scrutiny, a middle-ground standard, for Texas porn law.
- This gives government more leeway to restrict speech to protect children, tolerating some adult burdens.
Dissenters Advocate Strict Scrutiny
- Dissenters urged the court to apply strict scrutiny to protect adults' First Amendment rights.
- They warn relaxed standards could unjustly burden access to protected adult expression.