WASHINGTON – In a years-long Texas book banning case that’s seen rulings from multiple judges, the highest court in the nation has decided not to weigh in.
It all started in 2021, when a community in a small county near Austin decided to rid their public library’s shelves of “inappropriate” literature.
SCOTUS declines to rule
The latest:
The Supreme Court of the United States decided Monday they would not rule on an appeal in the Llano County case. Decisions by lower courts had previously allowed for books regarding topics like sex and social issues to be removed from the shelves.
According to the court’s timeline of proceedings, they first received an application to file a petition in the case on July 24. Since this summer, the petition was filed, motions to extend were passed through, numerous briefs were submitted in support of the appeal, and finally, in November, the petition was distributed for conference.
After nearly a month of no further actions, the next proceeding was a simple denial.
Anti-censorship groups request action
What they’re saying:
Numerous groups and organizations advocating free speech and expression submitted briefs to the court in favor of the appeal.
One group was The National Coalition Against Censorship, whose conclusion reads in part as follows:
“Allowing the Fifth Circuit’s decision to stand threatens to make public libraries a doctrinal oxymoron—institutions with a proud historical tradition of providing access to the widest possible range of ideas would become one of the only areas where the government could openly censor private viewpoints.”
Another group, PEN America, expressed a similar view in their brief:
“Library doors are open to all without regard to wealth, status, education, profession, or identity, and their collections run the gamut of expression. That extraordinary public service demands safeguards against official orthodoxy. Fortunately, the First Amendment has long offered such protection. This Court should reaffirm as much here.”
The removal of books from Llano County libraries
The backstory:
In 2021, a group of community members began working to have several books they deemed inappropriate removed from Llano County public library shelves.
A group of seven Llano County residents filed a federal lawsuit against the county judge, commissioners, library board members and the library systems director for restricting and banning books from the three-branch library system.
The lawsuit stated that the county judge, commissioners and library director removed several books off shelves, suspended access to digital library books, replaced the Llano County library board with community members in favor of book bans, halted new library book orders and allowed the library board to close its meetings to the public in a coordinated censorship campaign that violates the First Amendment and 14th Amendment.
In 2024, a divided panel from the Fifth Circuit ordered eight of the removed books returned.
Both the majority opinion of the 2024 panel and the dissenting opinion from Friday’s decision called the removal of the books a political decision.
What are the books?
The books at issue in the case include “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent” by Isabel Wilkerson; “They Called Themselves the K.K.K: The Birth of an American Terrorist Group,” by Susan Campbell Bartoletti; “In the Night Kitchen” by Maurice Sendak; “It’s Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex and Sexual Health” by Robie H. Harris; and “Being Jazz: My Life as a (Transgender) Teen” by Jazz Jennings.
Other titles include “Larry the Farting Leprechaun” by Jane Bexley and “My Butt is So Noisy!” by Dawn McMillan.
The Source: Information in this article comes from the Supreme Court of the United States and briefs filed in a petition to the court.
