FSC Files Motion to Stall Utah Age Verification Law

CHATSWORTH, Calif.—The Free Speech Coaltion announced Thursday that it has filed a motion with the United States District Court for the District of Utah asking the court to suspend enforcement of the state's recently passed age verification law for online adult content, SB287, until the lawsuit is resolved that FSC filed on the same day the law went into effect seeking to have it overturned. FSC's announcement follows: Free Speech Coalition has filed a motion for preliminary injunction of the Utah age-verification law. FSC and the other plaintiffs in the suit are asking the district of Utah judge to block enforcement of the law pending resolution of the case.  The motion lays out a long history of legal precedent striking down attempts to restrict access to sex-related content on the internet and argues that legislators were not only aware of the constitutional issues, but pushed forward with the intent of chilling speech: “Despite this long legacy of constitutional invalidity, the Utah Legislature has used not just the same tired justifications, but even the same statutory terms and definitions that led to invalidation of those past efforts. In doing so, it has placed Plaintiffs in the untenable position of abiding by the Act’s terms and enduring the constitutional infringement, or violating the Act and risking lawsuits. … Stifling adult speech is a feature of this legislation, not a bug.” The parties are represented by Jeffrey Sandman of Webb Daniel Friedlander LLP, D. Gill Sperlein of the Law Office of D. Gill Sperlein, and Jerome Mooney of Weston, Garrou & Mooney Law Firm. Read FSC's full motion here.