Supreme Court declines to block enforcement of porn age verification

The U.S. Supreme Court has officially made its decision.

On April 30, the justices rejected a request from the adult entertainment industry to remove age-verification requirements for porn sites being accessed from Texas.

Texas' law requires any website that publishes a "substantial" amount of content that could be "harmful to minors" to verify the age of the users.

But verifying everyone's age means the ages of adults must be checked as well.

According to the challengers, the law violates access to free speech online when it "forces adults to identify themselves before accessing pornography."

The Supreme Court offered no explanation for its decision, which is common for decisions made in an "emergency" fashion like this one.

A Texas appeals court wrote why the requirement should be allowed to stand at least for now:

"The record is replete with examples of the sort of damage that access to pornography does to children," the appeals court wrote. "Because it is never obvious whether an internet user is an adult or a child, any attempt to identify the user will implicate adults in some way."