TALLAHASSEE, Fla.—A federal district judge has officially stayed a lawsuit filed by the Free Speech Coalition and its co-plaintiffs challenging the constitutionality of Florida House Bill (HB) 3 without issuing an injunction to block enforcement of the law pending the outcome of litigation.
The stay comes right after the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025, in a similar lawsuit filed by the coalition involving Texas and its controversial age verification measure, House Bill 1181.
Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker of the Northern District of Florida granted a motion to pause the lawsuit filed by outgoing Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody.
The case is Free Speech Coalition et al. v. Moody. FSC sued in Florida in December 2024 alongside the parent company of JustFor.fans, Adam & Eve, and others.
“Defendant asks this court to exercise its ‘broad discretion’ to stay the proceedings in this case until the Supreme Court issues a ruling in an appeal now pending from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals involving a similar age-verification law out of Texas,” explained Walker in a five-page court order reviewed by AVN.
Walker was referring to the Supreme Court case Free Speech Coalition et al. v. Paxton. He concluded, “Ultimately, this court must balance the interests of judicial economy and the asserted impact that a stay on this proceeding will have on plaintiffs’ First Amendment rights.
Despite this stay, Walker even admitted in the order granting Moody’s motion for a stay that the plaintiffs’ speech is “chilled every day the challenged law is in effect.”
“[Given] the substantial guidance the Supreme Court is likely to provide in its ruling in Paxton and the impact this guidance will have on this court’s analysis of [the] plaintiffs’ primary constitutional claims, along with plaintiffs’ decision to allow the law to go into effect before seeking preliminary injunctive relief, this court concludes that a limited stay of these proceedings is both appropriate and necessary in this case,” ordered Judge Walker, setting July 3, 2025, for resuming litigation, or a ruling in the SCOTUS case.
A ruling in Paxton is expected to be issued during the summer.
