The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has agreed to rehear, as a full court, consolidated challenges to Texas laws regulating online services and minors’ access to content.
In published orders issued on 28 October 2026, the court granted rehearing en banc in Computer & Communications Industry Association v Paxton, No. 24-50721, and Students Engaged in Advancing Texas v Paxton, No. 25-50096. It vacated the panel opinion filed on 24 July.
Vacatur removes the panel decision as the court’s operative precedent while the en banc court considers the appeals. It does not decide the constitutionality of the challenged Texas provisions. The clerk will set supplemental briefing, and the court will hear argument on a later schedule.
The consolidated matters involve First Amendment objections brought by technology-industry and student plaintiffs. Because the rehearing order is procedural, the parties’ merits positions remain unresolved in the Fifth Circuit. Any existing district-court orders are governed by their own terms unless altered by a further appellate order.
The Fifth Circuit lists both 28 October orders on its official opinions page. The en banc court’s eventual judgment will replace the vacated panel disposition.
