Justice Samuel Alito asks Pornhub’s lawyers absurd question in viral video

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito turned heads Wednesday during a First Amendment case when he asked an absurd and unexpected question to the case’s attorney.

The conservative Supreme Court justice pointedly questioned aloud whether or not PornHub — a Canadian-owned pornographic video-sharing website — features cultural articles and newsworthy interviews that are comparable to “the old Playboy magazine.”

The shocking question came as the U.S. Supreme Court heard a challenge to a 2023 law in Texas that required adult sites to verify the ages of their users.

However, an adult entertainment industry trade group and several content creators have challenged the law, saying the requirement violates the First Amendment.

During Wednesday’s hearing, Alito asked attorney Derek Shaffer, who represents the entertainment trade group, to explain some of the “most popular porn sites.”

“One of the parties here is the owner of Pornhub,” Alito, 74, asked Shaffer, to which he agreed.

Alito continued, “What percentage of the material is on there [website] isn’t it obscene when it comes to children?’

Shaffer then rushed to respond before acknowledging that even for “the youngest minors,” most of the content is obscene, “and that’s how we read the law,” he said.

The conservative Supreme Court justice pointedly wondered out loud whether PornHub — a Canadian-owned Internet pornography sharing website — contains cultural content similar to “the old Playboy magazine”

“But does it look like the old Playboy magazine?” the Supreme Court judge asked, harking back to the old joke that men picked up “lifestyle” magazines for the articles, rather than the explicit content.

“Do you have essays there by the modern-day equivalent of Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley Jr.?” Alito asked.

“Not in that sense,” Shaffer admitted, “but in that sense [that] you have sexual wellness posts about women recovering from hysterectomy and how to enjoy sex. That’s right there. Discussions about age verification proposals and where the industry stands on the same page when it comes to what they think should be included in the law and what shouldn’t be included.”

The entire exchange was captured on a now-viral clip that includes an earlier exchange between a fellow conservative, Judge Neil Gorsuch, who questioned Shaffer about the percentage of his clients’ material that “would be considered obscene to minors.”

To which the plaintiff’s lawyer argued that “it is difficult to arrive at that calculation” before later suggesting that at least 70 percent of the content in question was unsuitable for children.

At another point during oral arguments, Alito scoffed at Shaffer’s suggestion that parents should be more proactive in monitoring and limiting their children’s online habits.

“One of the parties here is the owner of Pornhub,” Alito, 74, asked Shaffer, to which he agreed. Alito continued, “What percentage of the material is on there [website] isn’t it obscene when it comes to children?’

“Do you know many parents who are more tech-savvy than their 15-year-old children?” Alito joked.

The Free Speech Coalition, Inc. Case against Paxton will be decided sometime before the end of June.

Earlier this year, the Texas state law was upheld by the New Orleans-based Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled that governments have a compelling interest in preventing young people from viewing porn.