Tenth Circuit Kills FSC's Attempt to Rehear Utah AV Case

DENVER—According to the docket, the U.S. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals killed a last-ditch appeal to rehear a portion of the Free Speech Coalition's lawsuit challenging a controversial age verification bounty law in Utah. FSC filed an en banc petition that was sent to all judges in active service at the Tenth Circuit. None of the judges moved on the request. This was an attempt to convince the Tenth Circuit to reconsider an opinion of the same court covering Utah Senate Bill 287. “As I previously indicated, the Tenth Circuit granting en banc review was extremely unlikely," adult industry attorney Corey Silverstein told AVN. "The court grants less than 2 percent of en banc reviews, and in the instant case—the dismissal was based on more of a procedural issue than any type of ruling on the merits of the case.”   The coalition's counsel argues that the Tenth Circuit's ruling conflicts with U.S. Supreme Court precedent. The high court is considering a Texas age verification law.   The en banc petition also singles out Utah's public safety chief's apparent links to enforcing the age verification law throughout the state. It asked the entire Tenth Circuit to reconsider a portion of the panel's initial opinion, which includes a partial dissent concerning enforcement of the age verification law via the state's public safety agency. AVN reported on October 1 that the Tenth Circuit ruled in a split decision, 2-1, to affirm a ruling by a Utah federal district judge who dismissed a lawsuit challenging SB 287 on technical grounds. In the district judge's ruling, it was determined that the FSC had no standing to sue state officials for the enforcement of SB 287.