The Supreme Court’s Republican-appointed majority ended the term by ruling against the adult entertainment industry in a First Amendment case involving pornography. In an opinion by Justice Clarence Thomas, the court said the power to require age verification to access sexual content online is within a state’s authority to prevent children from accessing explicit content.

While agreeing about the importance of protecting children, Justice Elena Kagan’s dissent for the Democratic appointees emphasized that the First Amendment protects sexually explicit material for adults. “So a State cannot target that expression, as Texas has here, any more than is necessary to prevent it from reaching children,” she wrote.

An adult industry trade group and others challenged the law on constitutional grounds, arguing that the verification process imposes too great a burden on adults’ access to legal content. Texas said it’s trying to protect kids in a public health crisis of pornography.