Justice Clarence Thomas has a mixed record when it comes to freedom of speech. Sometimes, Thomas will write an opinion that leaves First Amendment advocates cheering. But other times, he will write one that leaves the same advocates scowling. Friday was a scowling sort of day.
Writing for a 6–3 Supreme Court majority in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton on Friday, Thomas held that a state law which, by his own admission, "burdens" the free speech rights of adults, deserves less than the highest available level of judicial scrutiny because the law was passed in the name of protecting children. The upshot of Thomas' opinion is that the First Amendment rights of adults have been watered down.
The case centered on a Texas law requiring websites that contain "pornographic material" to verify that the site's users are at least 18 years old. The Free Speech Coalition, an adult industry trade group, argued that the state's intrusive age-verification scheme inevitably interfered with the rights of adult visitors to such sites. The law "imposes a clear burden," the Free Speech Coalition told the Supreme Court, "forcing adult users to incur severe privacy and security risks—which the statute leaves largely unaddressed—before they can access constitutionally protected speech."
