Judge tosses challenge to Louisiana’s age verification law aimed at porn websites

By KEVIN McGILL
Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A federal judge has rejected an adult entertainment group’s lawsuit against a Louisiana law requiring sexually explicit websites to verify the ages of their viewers. The law passed in 2022 subjects such websites to damage lawsuits and state civil penalties as high as $5,000 a day. U.S. District Judge Susie Morgan in New Orleans ruled that the state officials named in the lawsuit don’t have duties to enforce the act. She said blocking them from taking action to implement the act wouldn’t prevent people from suing content providers who fail to verify their viewers’ age. A spokesman for plaintiffs said an appeal is likely.