A trade group whose members include Google, Apple, and other major app store operators asked the US Supreme Court to halt a Texas law requiring age verification to download smart phone apps after a district judge’s injunction was lifted earlier this month.
The Computer & Communications Industry Association filed an emergency request Monday with Justice Samuel Alito to vacate an order by the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit allowing Texas’ App Store Accountability Act to go into effect. The law requires app stores to verify the age of users and minors to link their app accounts to a parent or guardian, who must consent before they can download apps or make in-app purchases.
The law, CCIA argued, unconstitutionally requires app stores to police access to “vast amounts of online speech” by minors and adults alike.
Three other states—Alabama, Louisiana, and Utah—have enacted similar laws. California has also passed a law requiring operating systems to communicate the age range of users to apps for compliance with child safety laws.
US District Judge Robert Pitman, who was appointed to the bench by President Barack Obama, blocked Texas’ law in December as a likely violation of the First Amendment.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) then sought relief from the Fifth Circuit, which agreed the state had a “substantial” interest in protecting children by enforcing the law.
CCIA is represented in the suit by Wilson Sonsini, Haynes and Boone, and Cooley LLP.
Students Engaged in Advancing Texas, a youth education nonprofit also seeking to vacate the Fifth Circuit’s order, is represented by Davis Wright Tremaine LLP.
The court requested a response from Texas by June 22 at 4 p.m.
The cases are Computer & Communications Industry Association v. Paxton, U.S., No. 25A1390 and Students Engaged in Advancing Texas v. Paxton, U.S., No. 25A1389.