The Free Speech Coalition (FSC) has filed a lawsuit against Montana’s Attorney General, challenging the state’s new age-verification law, SB544. The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court of Montana, seeks declaratory and injunctive relief to block the enforcement of the law, which FSC argues is unconstitutional and overly restrictive.

The lawsuit, spearheaded by FSC and supported by a coalition of journalists, sex educators, therapists, book publishers, and sexual wellness retailers, contends that SB544 infringes upon the rights of various professionals and consumers. These plaintiffs argue that the law, while ostensibly aimed at preventing minors from accessing adult content, imposes severe restrictions on free speech and violates privacy rights.

“The Montana law is dangerous, ineffective, and deeply unconstitutional,” stated Alison Boden, Executive Director of Free Speech Coalition. “Laws like SB544 reach far beyond adult sites, restricting the right of journalists, educators, healthcare professionals, and consumers to access the internet free of government interference. These laws, while nominally about age verification, are so dangerous to consumer privacy that their practical effect is to censor constitutionally protected expression. We are fully committed to fighting these attacks on free speech.”

Joining the Free Speech Coalition in the lawsuit are several co-plaintiffs, including:

• O.school: A sex education platform.
• Lynsey Griswold: A Montana journalist and publisher at Oneshi Press.
• Ryn Pfeuffer: A journalist and sex worker.
• Dr. Anna Louise Petersen: A psychotherapist in Missoula.
• PHE, Inc.: A national sexual wellness retailer.
• Convergence Holdings, Inc.: A retailer doing business as Adam and Eve Montana.
• JustFor.Fans: An adult content platform.

“Montanans pride themselves on their self-reliance, independence, and willingness to stand up for individual liberty,” said Natasha Prinzing Jones, co-counsel for the plaintiffs and an attorney with Boone Karlberg in Missoula.

“While keeping minors from accessing age-inappropriate content is a worthy goal, the law is overbroad and impermissibly vague, violates Montanans’ constitutional protections under the First and Fourteenth Amendments, and has a significant chilling effect on legal speech on the internet. I look forward to standing up for individual rights in the face of government overreach.”

The plaintiffs are represented by a legal team comprising Jeffrey Sandman of Webb Daniel Friedlander LLP, D. Gill Sperlein of the Law Office of D. Gill Sperlein, and Natasha Prinzing Jones of Boone Karlberg.

The age-verification law, SB544, requires websites hosting adult content to implement strict measures to verify the age of their users. Critics argue that such measures are not only invasive but also fail to adequately protect consumer privacy, leading to a broader suppression of legal and constitutionally protected speech.

You can read the full complaint here.

And you can follow the FSC on X at @FSCArmy.