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.
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.
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 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.
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.
When asked Saturday what makes this year’s iteration of the Texas Tech women’s basketball team different, coach Krista Gerlich had an understandable response: the players.
Among the newcomers making an impact toward the Lady Raiders’ turnaround is Jada Malone. The 6-foot-3 forward transferred from Texas A&M in the offseason and has proven to be a welcome addition down low.
Malone had one of her best games of the season in the 65-59 loss to Kansas State. She may have earned more opportunities as Tech (19-1, 6-1) enters the heart of Big 12 competition.
Malone scored 15 points on 5-of-8 shooting and went 5-of-5 from the free-throw line. She had one rebound and one assist in 19 minutes, her most playing time since Jan. 3.
“She gave us the inside presence,” Gerlich said. “We knew that we needed more paint touches, just to be able to loosen up the perimeter defenders for us. I thought she did a great job of just being really smart with the basketball, and patient. When she needed to score, she scored. When she needed to pass, she passed. And she defended really well, too.”
Gerlich said that was a revelation after Malone saw two minutes in the first half for fear of how she’d match up with a guard-heavy Wildcats team.
“We were afraid that they might exploit her a little bit,” Gerlich said, “but we found the right matchup that we needed on defense. I thought that she really did a nice job for us offensively and defensively, to be honest.”
Malone is tied for fourth on the team with 8.0 points per game, while adding 3.5 rebounds, 0.8 assists and 0.5 steals in 15.7 minutes. She shoots a team-high 67% from the field and is a 75.9% free-throw shooter. Malone is a scoring option down low not before seen under Gerlich.
“Certainly this offseason we knew that that was something that we needed to address,” Gerlich said Dec. 3. “That and the point guard position. We went after Jada Malone and knew that she could do exactly what she’s doing for us. She made it perfectly clear of what she was looking for as well. She’s been so bought-in from the word ‘go.’”
The comments came after Malone’s season-high 19-point, 10-rebound outing against Wichita State. She went 9 of 9 on free throws and also posted season-bests in assists (3) and blocks (2).
Malone also drew praise from her teammate that night.
“When they can’t stop her inside, just give her the ball,” guard Denae Fritz said. “And then when they start finally stopping her, she’s really good at giving us the ball on the outside and getting us really good looks and getting us the ball in shooters’ pockets. It’s really fun to play with her.”
Beyond scoring, Malone said she prides herself on that aspect of her offensive game. She added how thankful she is that all the players are on the same page.
“I’ve had teams where our chemistry wasn’t that great,” Malone said. “I was very fortunate to come here and have an amazing team, have everybody be on the same mindset, have the same goals. It has a lot to do with our chemistry off the court, and I think you can tell that on the court as well.”
In this week’s episode, hosts Matthew and Eleanor speak with Texas Tribune reporter Colleen DeGuzman and Houston-based immigration attorney Paul Pirela about immigration enforcement in Texas. What’s ICE doing in Texas? How are Texas immigrants being affected? And what is the Trump administration saying about its efforts?
Watch the video above or subscribe to the TribCast on iTunes, Spotify, or RSS. New episodes every Tuesday.
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