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📝 Page Status: Draft — sourced but not yet reviewed

  • Status: draft
  • Sources: 12
  • Relationships: 8
  • Research debt items: 4

CCIA v. Paxton (Texas SB 2420 / App Store Accountability Act)

Summary

Computer & Communications Industry Association v. Paxton (W.D. Tex. No. 1:25-CV-1660-RP), together with a parallel challenge by Students Engaged in Advancing Texas, contests Texas SB 2420 (the App Store Accountability Act) on First Amendment and related grounds. Judge Robert Pitman granted a preliminary injunction on December 23, 2025. The Fifth Circuit administratively stayed the injunctions on May 28, 2026, then stayed them pending appeal on June 4, 2026. On July 6, 2026, the Supreme Court denied both emergency applications to vacate that stay (Nos. 25A1390 and 25A1389). The statute remains enforceable while the merits appeal continues; there is no final appellate holding on constitutionality as of last verification.

Verified Facts

  • Plaintiffs challenge Texas SB 2420’s app-store age verification, parental-consent, and developer age-rating regime.14
  • On December 23, 2025, the Western District of Texas (Judge Pitman) granted a preliminary injunction against enforcement, finding the Act likely unconstitutional.24
  • The companion district case is Students Engaged in Advancing Texas; M. F., by and through next friend Vanessa Fernandez; and Z. B., by and through next friend S.B. v. Paxton, W.D. Tex. No. 1:25-CV-1662. The Fifth Circuit consolidated it with CCIA’s appeal as No. 25-51073 c/w No. 26-50001.3
  • On May 28, 2026, the Fifth Circuit filed an unpublished order temporarily and administratively staying the preliminary injunctions while Texas’s motion for a stay pending appeal was still in briefing. The June 4, 2026 published stay says that it supersedes that administrative stay.310
  • On June 4, 2026, the Fifth Circuit (Judges Smith, Haynes, and Oldham) stayed the preliminary injunctions pending appeal. Judge Haynes concurred in the sentence of the order granting the stay. The stay allows enforcement during the appeal.3
  • On June 10, 2026, CCIA and the SEAT applicants each submitted an application to vacate that stay to Justice Alito. The applications were docketed June 15, 2026, as Nos. 25A1390 and 25A1389.7911
  • On July 6, 2026, the Supreme Court denied No. 25A1390: the application to vacate the stay, presented to Justice Alito and by him referred to the Court, is denied.67
  • The same day the Court denied the SEAT applicants’ companion application, No. 25A1389, in the same terms.89
  • Counsel of record on the Supreme Court applications are Brian Michael Willen (Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati) for CCIA, Ambika Kumar (Davis Wright Tremaine) for the SEAT applicants, and William Robert Peterson (Office of the Texas Attorney General) for the respondent on both applications.79
  • CCIA’s emergency application identifies the Fifth Circuit CCIA appeal as No. 26-50001. The Supreme Court docket header for No. 25A1390 instead prints the lower-court case number as (25-50001). The Fifth Circuit stay order and opinion PDF use No. 26-50001.3711
  • The Fifth Circuit’s August 4, 2026 New Orleans sitting calendar listed No. 25-51073, consolidated with No. 26-50001, for 9:00 a.m. argument in the East Courtroom before Judges Stewart, Graves, and Wilson.12
  • The Texas Tribune article at the May 28, 2026 URL was updated July 6, 2026. The updated text reports that the Supreme Court declined to block enforcement while the Fifth Circuit appeal continues, and that the court of appeals had allowed enforcement in late May.5

Procedural Timeline

Date Event Status significance
Oct 2025 CCIA and SEAT file W.D. Tex. challenges Litigation begins
Dec 23, 2025 Pitman PI granted (No. 1:25-CV-1660-RP; companion No. 1:25-CV-1662) Enforcement blocked
May 28, 2026 Fifth Circuit administrative stay filed Injunctions temporarily stayed during stay briefing
June 4, 2026 Fifth Circuit stay pending appeal (Nos. 25-51073 c/w 26-50001) Law enforceable during appeal; administrative stay superseded
June 10, 2026 Applications to vacate submitted to Justice Alito; docketed June 15 as Nos. 25A1390 and 25A1389 Emergency Supreme Court review begins
July 6, 2026 Supreme Court denies both applications Stay remains; enforcement continues
Aug 4, 2026 Sitting calendar lists the consolidated appeals for argument Merits opinion still open

The district court analogized SB 2420 to requiring every bookstore customer to verify age and minors to obtain parental consent for entry and purchases—an overbreadth/speech-restriction framing under the First Amendment.2 The Fifth Circuit stay is an interim appellate posture, not a merits affirmance. The July 6 denials are one-line order-list entries, not a ruling on constitutionality. Pair with STAT-TX-APP-STORE-ACCOUNTABILITY, TOPIC-APP-STORE-AGE-VERIFICATION, and TOPIC-FIRST-AMENDMENT.

The June 4 stay order cites Free Speech Coalition, Inc. v. Paxton, 606 U.S. 461, on intermediate-scrutiny tailoring.3 That is a website age-verification precedent. OIR does not yet have a case page for it.

Relationships

Sources

  1. SRC-TX-SB-2420-ENROLLED: Texas SB 2420 enrolled text.
  2. SRC-CCIA-V-PAXTON-PI-ORDER: CCIA v. Paxton — Order Granting Preliminary Injunction (W.D. Tex. Dec. 23, 2025).
  3. SRC-CA5-SB2420-STAY-ORDER: Fifth Circuit — Stay Pending Appeal (June 4, 2026).
  4. SRC-CCIA-SB2420-LITIGATION-PAGE: CCIA Litigation Page — CCIA v. Paxton.
  5. SRC-TX-TRIBUNE-SB2420-SCOTUS-2026: Texas Tribune — Supreme Court Lets Texas App Age Verification Law Stay in Effect.
  6. SRC-SCOTUS-25A1390-DENIAL-ORDER: Supreme Court Order List — Denial of No. 25A1390 (July 6, 2026).
  7. SRC-SCOTUS-25A1390-DOCKET: Supreme Court Docket — No. 25A1390.
  8. SRC-SCOTUS-25A1389-DENIAL-ORDER: Supreme Court Order List — Denial of No. 25A1389 (July 6, 2026).
  9. SRC-SCOTUS-25A1389-DOCKET: Supreme Court Docket — No. 25A1389.
  10. SRC-SCOTUS-25A1390-APPENDIX: Appendix to CCIA Emergency Application — No. 25A1390.
  11. SRC-SCOTUS-25A1390-APPLICATION: CCIA Emergency Application to Vacate Stay — No. 25A1390.
  12. SRC-CA5-SB2420-ARGUMENT-CALENDAR: Fifth Circuit Sitting Calendar — August 4, 2026.

Research Debt

  • Add the SEAT complaint as its own source. Caption and docket numbers are now taken from the Fifth Circuit stay order and the No. 25A1389 docket; the complaint reproduced in the No. 25A1390 appendix is CCIA’s.
  • Supreme Court docket header for No. 25A1390 prints lower-court number (25-50001). The Fifth Circuit caption and CCIA’s application use No. 26-50001. Do not collapse those numbers without a clerk correction.
  • Update after a Fifth Circuit merits decision. The August 4, 2026 sitting calendar lists argument; this pass did not confirm a posted recording, and the published PDFs at the 25-51073 and 26-50001 opinion paths reviewed on October 17, 2026 are the June 4 stay orders.
  • Create a case page for Free Speech Coalition, Inc. v. Paxton, 606 U.S. 461, cited in the June 4 stay order, when OIR covers the website age-verification cluster.

Document metadata

  • Decision date: 2025-12-23
  • Last verified: 2026-10-17

  1. SRC-TX-SB-2420-ENROLLED — Texas SB 2420 enrolled text. Primary statute. ↩

  2. SRC-CCIA-V-PAXTON-PI-ORDER — W.D. Tex. PI order (Dec. 23, 2025). Primary court order. ↩↩

  3. SRC-CA5-SB2420-STAY-ORDER — Fifth Circuit stay pending appeal (June 4, 2026). Primary appellate order. ↩↩↩↩↩

  4. SRC-CCIA-SB2420-LITIGATION-PAGE — CCIA case timeline and filings index. Party secondary summary. ↩↩

  5. SRC-TX-TRIBUNE-SB2420-SCOTUS-2026 — Texas Tribune reporting. Journalism. URL date is May 28, 2026; byline also shows a July 6, 2026 update. ↩

  6. SRC-SCOTUS-25A1390-DENIAL-ORDER — Supreme Court order list denying No. 25A1390 (July 6, 2026). Primary order. ↩

  7. SRC-SCOTUS-25A1390-DOCKET — Supreme Court docket No. 25A1390. Primary docket. ↩↩↩↩

  8. SRC-SCOTUS-25A1389-DENIAL-ORDER — Supreme Court order list denying No. 25A1389 (July 6, 2026). Primary order. ↩

  9. SRC-SCOTUS-25A1389-DOCKET — Supreme Court docket No. 25A1389. Primary docket. ↩↩↩

  10. SRC-SCOTUS-25A1390-APPENDIX — Appendix reproducing the May 28, 2026 administrative stay. Court order as filed on the Supreme Court docket. ↩

  11. SRC-SCOTUS-25A1390-APPLICATION — CCIA emergency application (June 10, 2026). Party filing on the Supreme Court docket. ↩↩

  12. SRC-CA5-SB2420-ARGUMENT-CALENDAR — Fifth Circuit sitting calendar (August 4, 2026). Official calendar. ↩