Florida denies claims of First Amendment violations over book removals in schools
By Zach Scott
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FLORIDA (WBBH) — Florida education leaders are pushing back against a lawsuit from major publishers and authors over the removal of books from school libraries, denying claims that a controversial state law infringes on First Amendment rights.
Attorney General Ashley Moody’s office filed a 25-page motion on Friday seeking to dismiss claims in a lawsuit against State Board of Education members.
The lawsuit also names members of the Orange County and Volusia County school boards as defendants, along with state board members.
The state’s motion states, “selection of public-school library books is government speech and therefore not subject to the First Amendment.”
Six publishing companies, the Authors Guild, five authors, and two parents filed a lawsuit on Aug. 29 in federal court in Orlando.
The case is one of several lawsuits sparked by a 2023 state education law and subsequent decisions by school districts to remove or restrict access to books in school libraries.
The lawsuit focuses on provisions of the 2023 law (HB 1069) that aim to restrict access to reading materials deemed “pornographic” or those that “describe sexual content.”
“In enacting HB 1069, the state has mandated that school districts impose a regime of strict censorship in school libraries,” the lawsuit said. “HB 1069 requires school districts to remove library books without regard to their literary, artistic, political, scientific, or educational value when taken as a whole. As a result of HB 1069, hundreds of different titles have been removed from school libraries across the state.”
The lawsuit highlights the removal of numerous books from library shelves, such as “Turtles All the Way Down” and “Paper Towns” by John Green. Green is a New York Times bestselling author, most notable for “The Fault in Our Stars,” which is one of the best-selling books of all time.
In its motion filed Friday, the state not only disputed the First Amendment claims but also argued that the plaintiffs lack legal standing to sue the State Board of Education members. The motion asserted that “any injury to plaintiffs” would result from actions taken by school districts, not the state board.
Attorneys for the Orange County and Volusia County school boards also filed responses on Friday, outlining brief answers and defenses to the lawsuit. Both school boards stated that any materials removed from public schools were removed solely to comply with Florida law.
The plaintiffs in the case include:
Publishing Companies Penguin Random House LLC Hachette Book Group, Inc. HarperCollins Publishers LLC Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC Simon & Schuster, LLC Sourcebooks LLC Organizations The Authors Guild Authors Julia Alvarez John Green Laurie Halse Anderson Jodi Picoult Angie Thomas Parents Heidi Kellogg Judith Anne Hayes
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