{"id":83735,"date":"2025-07-01T06:00:43","date_gmt":"2025-07-01T10:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=83735"},"modified":"2025-06-27T17:46:49","modified_gmt":"2025-06-27T21:46:49","slug":"new-rulings-on-porn-parental-rights-injunctions-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2025\/07\/new-rulings-on-porn-parental-rights-injunctions-and-more\/","title":{"rendered":"New Rulings on Porn, Parental Rights, Injunctions, and More"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Last week we blogged about a Supreme Court ruling that allows states to ban transgender<\/a> treatments for minors.\u00a0 Rulings<\/a> issued at the end of the court\u2019s term also hinder porn, LGBTQ indoctrination in schools, Planned Parenthood, and activist courts.<\/p>\n

\u2014States may protect children by requiring porn sites to verify the ages of their users<\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong> The court upheld a Texas law to that effect, which was vigorously opposed by the pornography industry.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201c[The] First Amendment leaves undisturbed States\u2019 traditional power to prevent minors from accessing speech that is obscene from their perspective,\u201d wrote Justice Clarence Thomas in his majority opinion. \u201cThat power necessarily includes the power to require proof of age before an individual can access such speech. It follows that no person \u2014 adult or child \u2014 has a First Amendment right to access speech that is obscene to minors without first submitting proof of age.\u201d<\/p>\n

Twenty-four states have passed age-verification laws<\/a>, though some have not gone into effect yet or have been stayed pending legal challenges. Those states are Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Wyoming.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Pornographers fear that the requirement will also inhibit adult users, who might feel ashamed to submit their IDs.\u00a0 To avoid having to install age-verification software and the risk of legal penalties for violations, some pornographers will not make their products available in states rigorous requirements, so the ruling may be especially beneficial to society.<\/p>\n

\u2014Parents may refuse to allow their children to be subject to schools\u2019 LGBTQ indoctrination<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>The court ruled that a Maryland school district may not require all children to take part in an LGBTQ curriculum, even over the objections of their parents.<\/p>\n

The Montgomery County school district near Washington, D.C., approved an English arts curriculum that required children beginning in pre-kindergarten<\/em> to read or have read to them 22 story books about homosexuality, same-sex marriage, gender dysphoria, and other sexually explicit themes.\u00a0 At first, parents could opt out their children, but that right was taken away, with the school mandating the program for children even over their parents\u2019 objections.<\/p>\n

According to Justice Samuel Alito, writing for the majority, \u201cThe Board\u2019s introduction of the \u2018LGBTQ+-inclusive\u2019 storybooks, along with its decision to withhold opt outs, places an unconstitutional burden on the parents\u2019 rights to the free exercise of their religion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leading the lawsuit against the mandate, to their credit, were Muslim parents.\u00a0 Later, they were joined by Catholic and Orthodox parents.\u00a0 (Memo:\u00a0 Muslims tend to agree with conservative Christians on moral and pro-family issues.\u00a0 When possible, work with them on compatible causes.)<\/p>\n

\u2014States may prevent tax money from funding Planned Parenthood<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>The court upheld a South Carolina law that forbade state Medicaid money from going to Planned Parenthood, the nation\u2019s largest abortion provider, because of the state\u2019s anti-abortion law.\u00a0 A patient sued, saying that the state\u2019s Medicaid policy of allowing patients to choose any qualified provider gave her the right to choose Planned Parenthood for other, non-abortion services that it provides.<\/p>\n

Justice Neil Gorsuch in his majority ruling<\/a> explained that the Medicaid law \u201cdoes not clearly and unambiguously confer <\/span>individual rights\u201d enforceable in court.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014Lower Courts may not issue \u201cuniversal injunctions\u201d against actions of the Executive Branch<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>District courts have been issuing injunctions stopping the enforcement of some of President Trump\u2019s executive orders, especially regarding immigration.\u00a0 This particular case deals with a lower court that enjoined the president from implementing his contention that \u201cbirth-right\u201d citizenship is not valid.<\/p>\n

The court did not decide that constitutional issue.\u00a0 In her ruling<\/a> for the majority, Justice Amy Coney Barrett focused on \u201cuniversal injunctions,\u201d which, she concludes, \u201clikely exceed the equitable authority that Congress has given to federal courts.\u201d<\/p>\n

What the ruling means, according to Dan McLaughlin, is to restrict the scope of court injunctions, which can only apply to the particular individuals involved in a lawsuit.\u00a0 There can be class action suits, which have to go through a certain process, and sometimes Congress passes laws that\u00a0give courts universal authority in certain kinds of cases.\u00a0 And cases can be litigated all the way to the Supreme Court, which can issue a definitive ruling that applies universally.\u00a0 But local courts cannot thwart the actions of the Executive Branch on their own, a tactic that conservatives used against President Biden and that now progressives are using against President Trump.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Photograph:\u00a0 The Supreme Court of the United States\u2013Roberts Court 2022<\/a> by supremecourt.gov via Picryl, Public Domain.\u00a0<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Supreme Court issued rulings that hinder porn, LGBTQ indoctrination in schools, Planned Parenthood, and activist courts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":83783,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,19,24,26,27,36,41],"tags":[16682,5166,16679,12670,2139],"class_list":["post-83735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","category-government","category-islam","category-law","category-life-issues","category-politics","category-sex","tag-court-injunctions","tag-defunding-planned-parenthood","tag-division-of-powers","tag-lgbtq-agenda-in-schools","tag-supreme-court"],"yoast_head":"\nNew Rulings on Porn, Parental Rights, Injunctions, and More<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Supreme Court issued rulings that hinder porn, LGBTQ indoctrination in schools, Planned Parenthood, and activist 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