The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has ruled that the Texas Restricting Explicit and Adult-Designated Educational Resources (READER) Act, a legislation aimed at restricting or banning “sexually explicit” books in public school libraries, likely infringes the Constitution, thereby affirming an earlier lower court’s injunction against the law.
The READER Act demands vendors working with Texas public schools to classify library materials by sexual content, labeling any materials deemed to be “sexually explicit” or “sexually relevant”. This legislation, signed into law by the Governor of Texas, was slated to take effect from September 1, 2023.
After the law was passed, a legal challenge was promptly filed by a coalition of Texas bookstores, national booksellers, authors, and publishers in a Texas district court back in July 2023. The plaintiffs argued that the law supplants the rights of localities to set standards for school materials within the bounds of the Constitution. They added that it might lead to the banning of classic works such as Twelfth Night, Romeo and Juliet, Ulysses, Jane Eyre, and even the Bible.
In September 2023, the District Court precluded the implementation of the READER Act by granting a preliminary injunction, ruling that it violates the First Amendment’s Free Speech Clause.
Judge Don Willett of the appeals court, confirming the District Court’s original ruling, underscored the plaintiff’s fundamental interest in “selling books without being coerced to speak the State’s preferred message—the ratings”. He added that the rating system dictated by the Act constitutes vendors’ speech, not government’s speech, hence the government-speech doctrine doesn’t apply. He was “unpersuaded” by the State’s claim saying that the READER Act “does not implicate plaintiffs’ First Amendment rights at all.”
The representatives of the plaintiffs welcomed the judgment, stating that the decision shields Texas businesses from impractical conditions, safeguards the plaintiffs’ constitutional rights, and enables Texas parents to make decisions for their own children without government intervention or control.
Further details can be found at the original article on JURIST – News.