Federal Judge Grants Stay in Age-Verification Case With 5th Circuit Appeal Pending
Federal court Judge Halil Ozerden granted a stay of proceedings in a Mississippi social media age-verification law case while an appeal to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is pending. The parties in the case, NetChoice and Attorney General Lynn Fitch (R), jointly moved for the stay on Wednesday (see 2507020027).
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In addition to granting the stay, "it is, further, ordered and adjudged that, this case is administratively closed until further order of the Court," Ozerden said.
HB-1126 was enjoined in case 24-00170 by the U.S. District Court for Southern Mississippi on June 18, on the basis that the law is too broad to survive a First Amendment challenge (see 2506180051). Fitch appealed that ruling to the 5th Circuit that same day (see 250620009). She also asked Ozerden for a stay of an injunction blocking the age-verification law, which he denied on June 25 (see 2506250010).