In June, the Supreme Court upheld a Texas law requiring age verification for websites that host sexually explicit materials. In a new insight, Director of Technology and Innovation Policy Jeffrey Westling and Barbara Batycka explore what the Court’s ruling will mean for federal efforts to protect children online in the future.

Key points:

• The Court held that minors did not have a constitutional right to access sexually explicit material and that the restriction on the constitutionally protected speech of adults was incidental to the regulation, resulting in the Court’s application of a less strict review standard.
• Nevertheless, courts may still be reluctant to uphold federal laws that regulate general-purpose websites or restrict access to content that minors have a constitutional right to view and share, meaning Congress shouldn’t dismiss these concerns as it considers kids’ online safety legislation.
• While the Supreme Court’s ruling may allow Congress to take action to protect children online, lawmakers should still fully consider the First Amendment implications of any legislation restricting access to speech online.

Read the analysis.