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Supreme Court leans in favor of state-enforced age limits on porn websites
Los Angeles Times ^ | Jan. 15, 2025 Updated 12:48 PM PT | David G. Savage

Posted on 01/15/2025 5:09:50 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum

WASHINGTON  —  Thanks to the internet and smartphones, children today have instant access to vast amounts of online pornography, much of it graphic, violent and degrading, Texas state attorneys told the Supreme Court on Wednesday.

They urged justices to restore the rules of an earlier era, when X-rated theaters and bookstores had an adults-only policy.

Last year, Texas enacted an age-verification law that requires pornographic websites to confirm their users are 18 or older.

Lawyers for 23 other Republican-led states joined in support of Texas, saying they have or plan to adopt similar measures.

The court’s conservative justices signaled they are prepared to uphold these new laws.

They noted that age-verification rules are now common for online gambling and for buying alcohol or tobacco online.

But more importantly, they pointed to the dramatic change in technology and the easy availability of hardcore pornography.

We are “in an entirely different era,” said Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. “The technological access to pornography has exploded.”

He said that warrants reconsidering rulings from decades past that invoked the 1st Amendment to strike down anti-pornography measures.

In one such ruling, the court in 2004 said parents and librarians could use filtering software to protect children from pornography.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett said parents have long known that “filtering” software is not effective in protecting children. “Kids can get online porn through gaming systems, tablets, phones and computers,” she said. “I can say from personal experience ... content filtering isn’t working.”

In the past, she said the court had no problem upholding laws that prevent bookstores from selling sexually explicit books or magazine to children or teens.

She questioned why online porn should be treated differently.

(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...


TOPICS: Humor
KEYWORDS: pornography
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To: reasonisfaith

Of course they will, because they do. You can say what you wish but, from a legal point of view, the Bible is a book with words and sometimes pictures. That is how it would be treated under the laws that you want.


221 posted on 01/17/2025 1:34:19 PM PST by Jonty30 (Liberals are a fulfillment of II Tim3:5. We are instructed to have nothing to do with those people. )
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To: reasonisfaith

It will not work out for you.

Liberals are anarcho-communists, they take what is good and push it in the most stringent manner possible, to prove it cannot be kept and then they seek to eliminate it by showing it does not work.


222 posted on 01/17/2025 1:35:41 PM PST by Jonty30 (Liberals are a fulfillment of II Tim3:5. We are instructed to have nothing to do with those people. )
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To: reasonisfaith

The Founding Fathers made use of it as well in the goings of their business. They didn’t allow for free speech for only good things, but for free speech.

Pornography is not suicide. It’s gross, but it’s not suicide.


223 posted on 01/17/2025 1:36:49 PM PST by Jonty30 (Liberals are a fulfillment of II Tim3:5. We are instructed to have nothing to do with those people. )
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To: Jonty30

This is where your thinking comes to nothing.

The logic is simple:

Pornography destroys families.

Families are the building block for our country, and families have always been a primary target.


224 posted on 01/18/2025 7:41:36 AM PST by reasonisfaith (What are the personal implications if the Resurrection of Christ is a true event in history?)
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To: Jonty30

But communists and globalists are also mentally deficient.

A starting point is their inability to know what is good.


225 posted on 01/18/2025 7:43:11 AM PST by reasonisfaith (What are the personal implications if the Resurrection of Christ is a true event in history?)
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To: Jonty30

The attempt to equate the Bible with pornography can only originate in a deficient mind.


226 posted on 01/18/2025 7:43:37 AM PST by reasonisfaith (What are the personal implications if the Resurrection of Christ is a true event in history?)
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To: reasonisfaith

So do guns destroy families, but your Constitution allows for them. The destructive power of an activity does not affect the right to do an activity. The Constitution or law does not weigh the merits of activity, but treats them both equally.

A man who has raised 6 kids and each of them are doctors, lawyers, teachers, military officers, police officers, etc, is worth more morally than a man who sired 27 kids and doesn’t see them and is an unemployed bum who gambles and cavorts with prostitutes. However, under the law, they are both the same.

The law does not consider merit to be a factor in its determiniations.


227 posted on 01/18/2025 4:57:53 PM PST by Jonty30 (If you ate your twin in the womb, your pronouns should be we/us.)
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To: reasonisfaith

Right, but that does not change how the law works.


228 posted on 01/18/2025 4:58:13 PM PST by Jonty30 (If you ate your twin in the womb, your pronouns should be we/us.)
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To: reasonisfaith

I don’t equate the Bible and pornography as being equal, the law does. By the laws you right, for them to be valid, must treat them equally and blindly under the law.


229 posted on 01/18/2025 4:59:04 PM PST by Jonty30 (If you ate your twin in the womb, your pronouns should be we/us.)
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To: Jonty30

No, you’re wrong. Guns don’t destroy families on a systemic level.

The topic of “merit” is not part of our discussion.

Do you think it’s lawful to yell fire in a crowded theater?


230 posted on 01/21/2025 7:59:11 AM PST by reasonisfaith (What are the personal implications if the Resurrection of Christ is a true event in history?)
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To: reasonisfaith

You can try your argument about the Bible being exempt from the limitations of free speech that you want to impose upon porn.

You would just lose, that’s all.


231 posted on 01/21/2025 8:02:12 AM PST by Jonty30 (If you ate your twin in the womb, your pronouns should be we/us.)
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To: Jonty30

No, you’re wrong again.

The law does not equate the Bible with pornography.

The basis of law is language. The basis of language is truth.

The only way to subvert truth is through the misapplication of language, as you misapply it in equating the Bible with pornography.

When you do this, it’s the same kind of error as when you say a Y chromosome is an X chromosome.


232 posted on 01/21/2025 8:03:56 AM PST by reasonisfaith (What are the personal implications if the Resurrection of Christ is a true event in history?)
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To: Jonty30

You sound like the guy in the Monty Python skit.

Let’s stay focused on substance here.

The topic at hand is not the Bible. We’re discussing pornography.

Again, do you understand why it’s not lawful to yell fire in a crowded theater? I’ll be here for guidance.


233 posted on 01/21/2025 8:06:16 AM PST by reasonisfaith (What are the personal implications if the Resurrection of Christ is a true event in history?)
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To: reasonisfaith

No, I’m not wrong. The law applies to all and in equal measure.

Language is language. If the law you want covers certain actions, the Bible will be drawn in. I don’t know why you don’t understand this. The Supreme Court is not going to carve an exception for the Bible.
I can only say to you, I guess you will find out for yourself. Just don’t complain when you do find out for yourself.


234 posted on 01/21/2025 8:07:34 AM PST by Jonty30 (If you ate your twin in the womb, your pronouns should be we/us.)
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To: Jonty30

Are you trying to avoid discussing how pornography is harmful?

Do you prefer to avoid discussing the scope of harm caused by pornography?


235 posted on 01/21/2025 8:08:07 AM PST by reasonisfaith (What are the personal implications if the Resurrection of Christ is a true event in history?)
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To: Jonty30

But why do you censor yourself from the discussion of pornography?

Is there something about pornography you think should be ignored?


236 posted on 01/21/2025 8:09:07 AM PST by reasonisfaith (What are the personal implications if the Resurrection of Christ is a true event in history?)
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To: Jonty30

Pornography should be banned because it causes severe damage on a societal level.

This is the kind of damage our country’s enemies deliberately inflict on us.

The distribution of pornography is categorically the same as yelling fire in a crowded theater.


237 posted on 01/21/2025 8:11:15 AM PST by reasonisfaith (What are the personal implications if the Resurrection of Christ is a true event in history?)
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To: reasonisfaith

The law only recognizes lawful free expression and unlawful free expression. It does not differentiate between different free expressions of same medium. A book is a book under the law. Any law passed in regards to books will include the Bible.

The Courts are not going to say the Bible is exempt, They are going to say that these words can or cannot be expressed and, if the Bible has those words it will not be able to express them.

You’re dreaming if you think that Christianity will not be caught up in your desires, if those desires come to pass.


238 posted on 01/21/2025 8:11:16 AM PST by Jonty30 (If you ate your twin in the womb, your pronouns should be we/us.)
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To: Jonty30

Pornography should be banned because it causes severe damage on a societal level.

This is the kind of damage our country’s enemies deliberately inflict on us.

The distribution of pornography is categorically the same as yelling fire in a crowded theater.


239 posted on 01/21/2025 8:11:23 AM PST by reasonisfaith (What are the personal implications if the Resurrection of Christ is a true event in history?)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

I think all porn sites should have a nming convention that ends in .XXX.

That way, all parents could simply use the security features to disable access to those sites.


240 posted on 01/21/2025 8:12:21 AM PST by Preachin' (I stand with many voters who will never vote for a pro abortion candidate.)
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