As book banning picks up across the United States, one victory in Texas proves the fight against right-wing-backed book-banning legislation isn’t futile. A U.S. judge has ruled that several bookstores and trade associations are likely correct in their claim that a Texas book-banning law violates constitutional rights.
The case arose last fall when Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed House Bill 900, also known as the READER Act (Restricting Explicit and Adult Designated Educational Resources), into law. The purpose of the law is allegedly to keep “sexually explicit” materials out of schools. It stipulated that any vendor selling books to a school library had to review and rate every book beforehand. Books rated “sexually explicit” would not be allowed to be sold to schools, while those rated “sexually relevant” could be sold to schools but would require students to get parental consent to check out.
Of course, the law allowed the government to vaguely define the term “sexually explicit” and gave the Texas Education Agency (TEA) the right to override any vendor rating with its own rating. It became quite clear to booksellers in Texas that this was just a tactic to allow the government, rather than students, teachers, and parents, to decide what students could read or access. Additionally, requiring vendors to review and rate every single book to sell to schools is impossible and would unnecessarily cost vendors estimated millions of dollars in resources and labor to fulfill.
Two Texas bookstores, along with the American Booksellers Association, the Association of American Publishers, the Authors Guild, and the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, filed a lawsuit alleging the READER Act violates their constitutional rights. The suit prevented the bill from going into effect, and now the injunction is being affirmed.
Texas bookstores victorious in suit
When the suit was first filed, District Judge Alan D. Albright found the plaintiff’s claim that the law was unconstitutional had merit, thus granting a temporary injunction and preventing the bill from taking effect until a final ruling was made. As a result, the case went on to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which was tasked with reviewing the lower court’s decision. On January 17, 2024, the three-judge panel unanimously agreed that the plaintiffs “would likely succeed on their claims that Texas’s law violates their First Amendment right to free speech,” upholding the lower court’s injunction of the bill.
The judges rejected the state’s claims that the aim of the law was to protect students and that it didn’t violate free speech. They also noted how the bill would negatively impact the goals of booksellers as “Plaintiffs have an interest in selling books without being coerced to speak the State’s preferred message.” Additionally, it acknowledged that the plaintiffs were “likely to sustain economic and constitutional injuries” if the bill was allowed to take effect.
Ultimately, the appeals court concluded it would uphold the injunction because “neither [the State] nor the public has any interest in enforcing a regulation that violates federal law.” This is quite a groundbreaking decision from one of the most conservative appeals courts in the nation. The plaintiffs issued a joint statement responding to the news:
We are grateful for the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals’ decisive action in striking down this unconstitutional law. With this historic decision the court has moved decisively to ensure the constitutionally protected speech of authors, booksellers, publishers, and readers, and prevent the state government from unlawfully compelling speech on the part of private citizens. The court’s decision also shields Texas businesses from the imposition of impossibly onerous conditions, protects the basic constitutional rights of the plaintiffs, and lets Texas parents make decisions for their own children without government interference or control. This is a good day for bookstores, readers, and free expression.
The plaintiffs are correct that this is a “historic decision” and a massive victory for bookstores, readers, and freedom of expression. This victory raises hope that the far-right’s book-banning legislation can be successfully challenged for infringing on our constitutional rights and that even conservative judges can see the irreparable harm of letting these restrictive acts that violate federal laws go into effect.
(featured image: Bet_Noire / Getty)
