On Saturday July 29, US District Judge Timothy L. Brooks from Arkansas issued a preliminary injunction that temporarily blocks a law prohibiting librarians and booksellers from giving minors, or people under the age of 18, material considered “harmful” for them. Someone can be punished for breaking this law with up to a year in prison and a fine of up to $2,500.
According to The Washington Post, “free-speech advocates … had decried the law as a violation of individual liberties.”
A group of librarians and booksellers filed a lawsuit in June to challenge this act. If it wasn’t for the preliminary injunction, Act 372 would have taken effect on Tuesday August 1.
Article 1 of Act 372 “made it a criminal offense to knowingly provide a minor with any material deemed ‘harmful’ — a term defined by state law as containing nudity or sexual content, appealing to a ‘prurient interest in sex,’ lacking ‘serious literary, scientific, medical, artistic or political value for minors’ or deemed ‘inappropriate for minors’ under current community standard,” according to The Washington Post.
While Article 5 “requires county and municipal libraries to establish written guidelines for the ‘selection, relocation and retention’ of materials, including a process for individuals to challenge their ‘appropriateness; and request that they be moved to an area inaccessible to children,” according to The Washington Post.
At least seven states have passed similar laws banning librarians, booksellers, and teachers from providing minors with “harmful material”, and a dozen other states have also considered these bills.
Plaintiffs argued that the law would force libraries and bookstores to “remove books that some might deem offensive to young readers”, “create secure, adult-only spaces for those books”, “ban minors from their facilities altogether”, or “expose themselves to criminal charges or fines”.
If Act 372 was to go into effect on Tuesday, “I think we’d need to … decide if we’re an adults-only bookstore … or a children’s-only bookstore. That’s … worrisome for us, because that’s cutting our business in pieces,” said Daniel Jordan, who is co-owner of Pearl’s Books.
Judge Timothy Brooks said Act 372 “would permit, if not encourage, library committees and local governmental bodies to make censorship decisions based on content or viewpoint.” He also agreed that “the state’s definition of ‘harmful’ materials was overly vague.”
In his injunction, Brooks quoted “‘Fahrenheit 51,’ a novel about an American society run by authorities that burn books to control people’s access to information and knowledge. ‘There is more than one way to burn a book. And the world is full of people running about with lit matches,’ the judge wrote, citing the author Ray Bradbury.”
Hayden Kirby is one of the many plaintiffs involved in the lawsuit. She is seventeen and often visits the Central Arkansas Library System, which is also a plaintiff.
“I want to fight for our rights to intellectual freedom and ensure that libraries remain spaces where young Arkansans can explore diverse perspectives,” she said.
Sources:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/07/30/arkansas-book-ban-judge-injunction/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2023/06/09/arkansas-libraries-booksellers-lawsuit/
According to The Washington Post, “free-speech advocates … had decried the law as a violation of individual liberties.”
A group of librarians and booksellers filed a lawsuit in June to challenge this act. If it wasn’t for the preliminary injunction, Act 372 would have taken effect on Tuesday August 1.
Article 1 of Act 372 “made it a criminal offense to knowingly provide a minor with any material deemed ‘harmful’ — a term defined by state law as containing nudity or sexual content, appealing to a ‘prurient interest in sex,’ lacking ‘serious literary, scientific, medical, artistic or political value for minors’ or deemed ‘inappropriate for minors’ under current community standard,” according to The Washington Post.
While Article 5 “requires county and municipal libraries to establish written guidelines for the ‘selection, relocation and retention’ of materials, including a process for individuals to challenge their ‘appropriateness; and request that they be moved to an area inaccessible to children,” according to The Washington Post.
At least seven states have passed similar laws banning librarians, booksellers, and teachers from providing minors with “harmful material”, and a dozen other states have also considered these bills.
Plaintiffs argued that the law would force libraries and bookstores to “remove books that some might deem offensive to young readers”, “create secure, adult-only spaces for those books”, “ban minors from their facilities altogether”, or “expose themselves to criminal charges or fines”.
If Act 372 was to go into effect on Tuesday, “I think we’d need to … decide if we’re an adults-only bookstore … or a children’s-only bookstore. That’s … worrisome for us, because that’s cutting our business in pieces,” said Daniel Jordan, who is co-owner of Pearl’s Books.
Judge Timothy Brooks said Act 372 “would permit, if not encourage, library committees and local governmental bodies to make censorship decisions based on content or viewpoint.” He also agreed that “the state’s definition of ‘harmful’ materials was overly vague.”
In his injunction, Brooks quoted “‘Fahrenheit 51,’ a novel about an American society run by authorities that burn books to control people’s access to information and knowledge. ‘There is more than one way to burn a book. And the world is full of people running about with lit matches,’ the judge wrote, citing the author Ray Bradbury.”
Hayden Kirby is one of the many plaintiffs involved in the lawsuit. She is seventeen and often visits the Central Arkansas Library System, which is also a plaintiff.
“I want to fight for our rights to intellectual freedom and ensure that libraries remain spaces where young Arkansans can explore diverse perspectives,” she said.
Sources:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/07/30/arkansas-book-ban-judge-injunction/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2023/06/09/arkansas-libraries-booksellers-lawsuit/