Taxpayer Watchdog Responds to Supreme Court Failure to Reimpose Stay of Online Censorship Law

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Kara Zupkus (224)-456-0257

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court today declined to block enforcement of Mississippi’s age-verification law for social media, allowing the Walker-Montgomery Protecting Children Online Act (H.B. 1126) to take effect. The Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) filed an amicus brief in this case, NetChoice v. Fitch, urging the Court to grant social media companies and users relief from this onerous law.

TPA President David Williams offered the following statement:

“Today’s ruling allows Mississippi to move forward with a law that places an unconstitutional burden on social media users’ rights to anonymous speech and association. By compelling platforms to collect sensitive personal data for verification, the law not only chills free expression but also undermines user privacy and increases the risk of data breaches. The Court should have granted NetChoice’s application for relief from this blatantly unconstitutional law.

“TPA filed our amicus brief in this case not only to defend taxpayers from footing the bill to enforce an overly broad and vague law but also to uphold the notion that anonymity is central to free and democratic discourse. TPA will continue fighting for social media users’ First Amendment rights.”

TPA Research Director David McGarry offered the following statement:

“However unfortunate the momentary result, the Supreme Court today spoke on the matter of interim relief. The merits of the case remain untrod ground. In fact, in a lone concurrence, Justice Brett Kavanaugh indicated that H.B. 1126 is unlikely to withstand constitutional scrutiny once the merits are traversed, as they surely will be.

“This reason, among others, including the adamantine strength of the arguments put forward by NetChoice, TPA, and others, is cause for great hope that in the near future the Supreme Court will take up the merits of this case and quickly and emphatically dispatch H.B. 1126.”