Texas Court Strikes Down Drag Show Ban, Upholds Free Speech Rights
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A federal judge struck down a 2023 Texas law Tuesday, ruling that the state cannot enforce its drag show ban as it violated the First Amendment’s guarantee of free speech while its definitions were so broad it could have landed the late Dolly Parton behind bars.
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The Guardian USIn a ruling issued on Tuesday, US district judge David Hittner said Texas cannot enforce its drag show ban. He said that the measure improperly restricts speech and violates the first amendment of the US constitution.
The HillJudge strikes down Texas law banning some drag performances A federal judge on Tuesday struck down, for the second time, a Texas law that would have restricted public drag performances in the state. U.S. District Judge David Hittner ruled that the state Senate Bill 12, which was passed in 2023, violated the First Amendment and “is an unconstitutional restriction on free speech.” In the…
NBC NewsA federal judge in Texas struck down a 2023 state law Tuesday that sought to restrict drag shows, ruling it was unconstitutional.
HuffPostA federal judge in Texas has once again struck down a state law that would restrict drag shows, saying those who are offended by the performances should simply just not attend them.
Fox NewsA federal judge in Texas struck down a state-level ban on drag shows Tuesday, saying the law violated the First Amendment.
Washington PostJudge channels Dolly Parton in blocking Texas drag show ban U.S. District Judge David Hittner argued that countless popular performances with “erotic” elements would have fallen under a state law he described as overly broad.
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LGBTQ+ advocacy groups and drag performers sued the state after the bill’s passage three years ago, arguing the ban on “sexually oriented performance” was overly broad and therefore unconstitutional, according to Courthouse News.
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The Guardian USAdvocacy groups sued the state after the bill’s passage, arguing the ban on “sexually oriented performance” infringed on constitutional rights. Texas’s move was just one across several states in 2023, driven by a right-wing backlash to increasing queer and transgender rights and equality. Hittner initially declared the ban unconstitutional in September 2023, but it was unblocked by the 5th US circuit court of appeals in 2025, which returned the case to the judge.
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Civil liberties groups welcomed the ruling. “Drag has a rich history as a refuge of joy and liberation for countless Texans, and it’s not going anywhere,” said the Texas chapter of the ACLU in a statement.
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HuffPost“Drag has a rich history of joy and liberation for countless Texans, and it’s not going anywhere,” said Brian Klosterboer, senior staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, which filed the lawsuit against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
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Brigitte Bandit, a plaintiff in the case who impersonates Parton, celebrated the ruling on social media. “Drag is free speech, b----.” She announced she would also perform as Parton, who gave her a rhinestone guitar as a gift in 2023, at an Austin bar Saturday in her honor.
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BreitbartOne of the plaintiffs in the case, a drag queen who performs under the name Brigitte Bandit, impersonates Parton in her performances. Parton reportedly even gave Bandit a rhinestone-covered guitar in 2023 at an Austin bar after she testified against anti-drag bills.
HuffPostOne of the plaintiffs in the case is Brigitte Bandit, a drag queen who performs as Parton. The performer celebrated the ruling Tuesday on Instagram with a video of her performing “Jolene” as Parton to dancing children.
NBC NewsOne of the plaintiffs in the case, a drag queen who performs under the name Brigitte Bandit, impersonates Parton in her performances.
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The statute, which has been the source of a yearslong legal battle, has made its way to Hittner’s courtroom before. Hittner first deemed it unconstitutional and a violation of the First Amendment in 2023, but the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals returned it to him in November, lifting a pause on the law and giving him specific instructions about how to reassess it.
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HuffPostThe law has been in a yearslong court battle since 2023, when Hittner originally struck it down on the same grounds of it violating the First Amendment. The judge’s ruling stuck until November of last year, when the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unblocked the law and returned the cases to Hittner.
Fox News"The solution is relatively simple ... just don’t go," he wrote. This is the second time Hittner has struck down the Texas law in a ruling. He did the same thing in 2023, but the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals handed the case back down with further instructions on how to decide the case.
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Hittner added that the law was so overly broad as to lead even activities such as “cheerleading, dancing, live theater, and other common public occurrences” to be treated as civil or criminal violations. He also said that the law was vague on its face and that it failed “to give a reasonable person notice of what is prohibited.”
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BreitbartHittner also wrote in his decision that the law was so overly broad, even activities such as “cheerleading, dancing, live theater, and other common public occurrences” could be treated as criminal acts.
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Independent claims that didn't surface elsewhere in our corpus. Treat as supplementary — not corroborated across outlets.
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01 The Guardian US “Even if S.B. 12 were somehow content-neutral (an argument the Attorney General has never advanced), it still prohibits huge swaths of constitutionally protected performances. Because the term ‘prurient interest in sex’ is open-ended, SB 12 can be used to cherry-pick particular aspects of performances that might be ‘in some sense erotic’,” Hittner wrote.
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02 Fox News "There are ‘erotic’ elements in countless popular performances that could be subject to both civil and criminal penalties under S.B. 12," he wrote, going on to list "cheerleading, dancing, live theater, and other common public occurrences," as activities that could be banned under the law.
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03 NBC News “The solution is relatively simple ... just don’t go,” he wrote. Paxton’s office did not immediately reply to a request for comment Tuesday night.
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04 Breitbart Judge Hittner, a member of the Southern District of Texas federal bench, previously sided with those opposing the law in his first injunction in 2023.
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05 HuffPost “This law stifled free expression across our state and made people afraid to engage in or attend drag shows and other performances,” he continued. “But all Texans ― no matter our gender or background ― are guaranteed the right to free expression. We celebrate this victory and remain committed to stopping state officials from targeting LGBTQIA+ Texans and making our state less free and fair.”
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