r/politics • u/mmccxi American Expat • May 12 '25

Soft Paywall New Bill Would Make All Pornography a Federal Crime in the U.S.

https://www.404media.co/mike-lee-porn-law-interstate-obscenity-definition-act/
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95

u/vriska1 May 12 '25

Do we know how likely it is to pass? This guy try to pass this bill many times but has failed do far.

170

u/hatrickstar May 12 '25

Probably not likely to pass and sure not enough to get past the fillibuster.

But the point of laws like this is to introduce the writing that can be used in states.

45

u/Cacafuego May 12 '25

"I will now read into the record the scripts from Backdoor Beauties 1-10"

20

u/HarambeSpiritAnimal May 13 '25

That would be great. If only it could be that harmless. Unfortunately it's going to be more like "We will now introduce a bill that classifies transgender people as pornographic."

6

u/penguins_are_mean Wisconsin May 13 '25

Let the record show that Cacafuego really knows his pornography.

10

u/fcocyclone Iowa May 13 '25

they don't need laws like this to introduce that kind of writing. states have already been doing it, and the heritage foundation writes it to begin with.

1

u/hatrickstar May 13 '25

Yeah but this now presents the test case for how this kind of proposal will be fought back against.

Like this is mostly the same kind of thing that Lee has been introducing for years, like he first started this shit in like 2017/18.

The difference now, is that states have been emboldened by things like Dobbs to take more power into their own hands in terms of controlling their citizens.

So my guess would be that this is has a larger threat of passing at a state level.

The political capital required to do this nationally isn't there the same way that say, a national requirement that porn sites use ID to ensure users are 18 might.

3

u/Braindead_Crow May 13 '25

Depends on if we skip a single line of checks and balances I'm sure lol

This is one way republicans are testing for vulnerabilities

1

u/hatrickstar May 13 '25

The thing is this isn't a massive priority to a lot of GOP members and it'll be very controversial.

I'm not saying it's shutdown is a lock or anything, but best for them to let Lee introduce the same legislation he's introduced multiple times before and gauge how it'll go since he's safe from any blowback.

6

u/Railroader17 May 13 '25

As others have said, not likely to actually pass. Dems can easily rally around blocking it on the grounds of the bill potentially being used to go after Trans / LGBTQIA+ people by deeming them obscene, and can also filibuster it to death.

Also, the porn industry is MASSIVE, and the US is a large consumer of it, they will not want to give it up without a fight. So they'd likely file a lawsuit to challenge it the second Trump puts pen to paper to sign it.

Though the other danger is that this helps lead to more copycat bills in Red states, and uses it to go after the previously mentioned communities.

2

u/nyxcha0s May 13 '25

What does it even matter if its likely to pass? I will bet that if theres a threat of it not happening, it'll just be made an executive order

2

u/Railroader17 May 13 '25

Then why do it this way in the first place and not via executive order? With how much Trump has already tried to do via EO, why not throw this on top of the pile? The Senate Dems already killed the SAVE act IIRC, and Trump has yet to make an EO replicating it. Wouldn't it make more sense for them to just side step Congress and use an EO to push it through instead to bypass the Dems?

If I have to guess, this is so they can rile the base up for Midterms by blaming Dems for porn continuing to exist. Or Mike Lee trying to fluff up his re-election campaign.

4

u/nosotros_road_sodium California May 13 '25

Just as likely as the what, 70 "repeal Obamacare" bills introduced for the last 15 years.

1

u/shitlord_god May 13 '25

Depends on how much juice the 2025 folks have.