Missouri Supreme Court hears arguments over school library content
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The Missouri Library Association asked the Missouri Supreme Court on Wednesday to uphold a lower court's ruling that deems a law on sexually explicit materials in schools unconstitutional.
The law in question is Senate Bill 775. The bill went into effect in August 2022 and addressed sexual assault and school materials.
Section 573.550 of the Missouri Revised Statutes states that if any person affiliated with a school in any official capacity distributes "explicit sexual material" to a student, they can face punishment.
This includes up to a year in prison and/or a $2,000 fine.
The Jackson County Circuit Court banned the enforcement of the law, claiming it violated Missouri's due process and freedom of speech clauses. Many states follow a set obscenity rule through the California case, Miller v. California, which set the standard that explicit material can be present as long as the work as a whole is not sexual or obscene in nature.
The Missouri Constitution specifically states that "any pictorial, three-dimensional, or visual depiction, including any photography, film, video, picture, or computer-generated image," showing sexual acts.
The library association argued the definition is too broad, vaguely expanding the current standard most states share for sexually explicit material. As a result, librarians in the state have been pulling questionable books out of fear of punishment, potentially affecting the ability of instructors to provide information on sexual education and banning young adult books that imply sexual themes but don't show explicit content.
"This statute has created a chilling effect on school library collection development, resulting in fewer representative books within our collections, due to fear of prosecution," former library association President Melissa Corey said during initial court proceedings.
The library group says the law mainly focuses on secondary education literature, and has swept up a graphic novel of a "Game of Thrones" book and a children's Bible.
"These books are only in high school libraries," Gillain Wilcox with the ACLU of Missouri said. "High school students are mature enough to read them, school librarians know what books should be there, and these laws do target the LGBTQ+ community."
"If an illustrated memoir detailing a professional athlete’s discovery of her sexuality contains even one prohibited depiction, a private-school basketball coach cannot loan her personal copy to a student on her team who is worried about coming out. If a graphic adaptation of an award-winning novel contains even one prohibited depiction, a special education teacher in a religious school cannot provide it to a student who struggles with traditional reading," the librarians stated in their argument.
The state is asking the Missouri Supreme Court to reverse the decision, arguing that the law is not overly broad, and that the law regulates schools' speech, not overall free speech.
"The state is free to adopt other definitions of obscenity as long as the definitions stay within the bounds set by the constitutional standard," Deputy Solicitor General Graham Miller said.
The Missouri Supreme Court questioned Miller, asking the purpose of the law if there are already rules banning explicit material being shown to minors. The state said that SB 775 is different since it is limited to activity that takes place in schools.
"When Missouri parents send their children to school, they have a legitimate expectation that school officials will deliver age-appropriate instruction. And they legitimately expect that school officials have a 'duty to supervise the students under their custody and control,'" the state wrote in its argument.
A ruling will be released at a later date.
