The Supreme Court’s current session features cases that raise some of the thorniest Constitutional questions.
But no one was prepared for this.
And a Supreme Court Justice asked one question about porn that turned heads across America.
Supreme Court Justice’s questions call back to old joke about Playboy
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments over a Texas law that requires age verification on pornographic websites to verify that users are over the age of 18.
During oral arguments, two of the court’s conservative Justices focused on the makeup of the content on these websites.
“What percentage of your client’s materials would be considered obscene for minors?” Justice Neil Gorsuch asked lawyer Derek Shaffer, who represented the websites.
“Your Honor, it’s tough to arrive at that calculation-” Shaffer began before Gorsuch cut him off.
“Your friends on the other side say it’s all,” Gorsuch interjected.
This led to Shaffer conceding that 70 percent of the material on these websites were adult-themed in nature.
Justice Samuel Alito picked on this line of questioning and focused on the website PornHub.
“To follow up on Justice Gorsuch’s questions. Why don’t you talk about the most popular porn sites, which I gather you’re representing. So one of the parties here is the owner of PornHub, right?” Alito asked.
Shaffer replied in the affirmative.
PornHub received 5.49 billion visits per month globally.
Texas wanted age verification to ensure minors didn’t have access to obscene content on the world’s most popular porn site.
“And what percentage of the material on that is not obscene as to children?” Alito asked.
Shaffer somehow tried to delineate between different classifications of minors.
“Well, Your Honor, if we’re talking about the youngest minors, I would agree that most of it is. And that is how we read the law-“ Shaffer began before Judge Alito interrupted him with his surprising knowledge of the contents of Playboy.
“But is it like the old Playboy magazine? You have essays there by the modern day equivalent of Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley Jr.?” Alito asked.
In addition to the celebrity photospread and the “Playmate of the Month” feature, Playboy would also include essays and articles by some of America’s most prominent intellectuals and political thinkers.
That led to an old joke guys would tell where they would say they only read Playboy for the articles, a quip Alito alluded to with his question to Shaffer.
Shaffer replied that there weren’t articles on PornHub about the issues facing America as there used to be in Playboy, but that the site did feature some sex-themed articles as well as pieces about the debate over age verification laws.
“Not in that sense, but in the sense you have sexual wellness posts about women recovering from hysterectomies and how they can enjoy sex. That’s on there. Discussions of age verification proposals and where the industry lines up as far as what they think should be legislated and what should not,” Shaffer concluded.
Texas is likely to win this case.
There are age restrictions that prevent minors from entering bars and adult entertainment venues.
It’s highly unlikely that the Supreme Court will rule that age verification requirements for sites like PornHub violate the First Amendment.
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