| July 16, 2021 |
Judge Halts Texas’ Ban on Under-21 Adult Biz Employees |
|
AUSTIN â In an order issued July 8, federal district judge in Texas granted an injunction blocked enforcement of a controversial state law that bans individuals under the age of 21 years from stripping or engaging in other work for sexual oriented businesses. Federal district Judge Robert Pitman, a magistrate for the Austin Division of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, found the plaintiffs in the case “have a substantial likelihood of success on their claims that S.B. 315âs age restrictions on employment or work at or with a ‘sexually oriented business’ are unconstitutional.” “The challenged amendments to Texas law infringe the individual Plaintiffsâ First Amendment rights to engage in expression and association for expressive purposes,” Pitman wrote in his order. “The same holds true for members of the Plaintiff Classes.” Pitman added that âthe age restrictions are not likely to satisfy intermediate scrutiny because they do not further a substantial governmental interest and they are no mere incidental restriction on First Amendment freedoms” and “they are far greater than is essential to the furtherance of the stateâs interests.” “Without an injunction, Plaintiffs and members of the Plaintiff Classes will suffer irreparable injury,” Pitman wrote. “The challenged provisions inflict broad sweeping constitutional injury upon all of them. The balance of harms favors Plaintiffs and Plaintiff Class Members, and a preliminary injunction will serve the public interest.” Pitman also found that “granting preliminary injunctive relief on a class-wide basis is appropriate,” noting that the plaintiffs have proposed three classes. First, there is a “Due Process Plaintiff Class,” which includes “all persons in the State of Texas between the ages of 18 and 20 years old who have been, or would be, employed or contracted to provide, any lawful work or service at or with” a sexually-oriented business or any “sexually oriented commercial activity” under Texas law, but for S.B. 315âs amendments to state law. The second proposed class is a “First Amendment Plaintiff Subclass,” the description of which mirrors the Due Process Plaintiff class, only instead of “any lawful work or service,” members of the First Amendment Plaintiff Subclass would be those who specifically provide “any lawful work or service involving protected expression or association for expressive purposes” — a group that includes the state’s exotic dancers. The third proposed class is the “Defendant Class,” characterized as “all district, county, and city attorneys in the State of Texas with authority to prosecute, sue, or enforce Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code” and/or “Texas Penal Code § 43.251,” as those sections have been amended by section 8 of S.B. 315. (The plaintiffs have proposed the Attorney General as the class representative for the Defendant Class.) During the legislative process, the law was endorsed and supported by the anti-human trafficking activist group Operation Texas Shield. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is expected to appeal Pitman’s order. |
