Supreme Court upholds Texas age verification law for adult websites

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court upheld a Texas law Friday that requires adult websites to verify the age of their users, concluding that the policy does not violate the First Amendment.

In a 6-3 decision, the high court deemed the law “appropriately tailored” backing a prior Fifth Circuit decision that found states should be able to prevent youngsters from viewing smut online.

“The statute advances the State’s important interest in shielding children from sexually explicit content,” conservative Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in the majority opinion.

“And, it is appropriately tailored because it permits users to verify their ages through the established methods of providing government-issued identification and sharing transactional data.”