The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled on Monday to allow a Tennessee state law aimed at protecting minors on the internet to take effect.
The Protect Tennessee Minors Act, which was signed into law by Governor Bill Lee in May 2024, requires websites that contain a “substantial portion of material harmful to minors” to perform “reasonable age-verification methods to verify the age of individuals attempting to access the material.”
Another win for Tennessee!
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has granted @AGTennessee’s motion allowing The Protect Tennessee Minors Act to go into effect:
“We’re glad that the unanimously-passed Protect Tennessee Minors Act remains in effect while this case… pic.twitter.com/jOtnNYwnCV
— TN Attorney General (@AGTennessee) January 13, 2025
Violations of the law are classified as Class C felonies in the Volunteer State, which carry a maximum penalty of 3-15 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
The law was challenged on November 26 by the Free Speech Coalition and other co-plaintiffs, which argue that the law violates the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
On December 30, Chief U.S. District Judge Sheryl H. Lipman of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee, an Obama appointee, granted the plaintiffs’ request for a preliminary injunction in their challenge against the Tennessee law which blocked the law from taking effect.
Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti immediately appealed Lipman’s order to the Sixth Circuit, which led to Monday’s ruling.
Judges David McKeague, Richard Griffin, and John Nalbandian explained in their ruling on Monday that they felt the District Court’s “First Amendment analysis was lacking,” which resulted in their decision to grant Skrmetti’s stay request.
“Even assuming the district court was correct in applying strict scrutiny, it still did not establish that the unconstitutional applications of the [Protect Tennessee Minors Act] outweigh the constitutional ones,” Monday’s ruling reads.
Skrmetti applauded the Sixth Circuit’s Monday ruling, saying, “We’re glad that the unanimously-passed Protect Tennessee Minors Act remains in effect while this case proceeds.”
“As the Court of Appeals noted, this law seeks to stem the flow of toxic content to kids and keep adult websites adults-only,” Skrmetti added.
– – –
Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “A.G. Jonathan Skrmetti” by Tennessee Attorney General’s Office.
