I was about to post this and then saw you already got it. Thanks, @JuDGe3690! This is a big win, but only one battle in a long war. A lot more attention is needed on this topic across the country...
I was about to post this and then saw you already got it. Thanks, @JuDGe3690!
This is a big win, but only one battle in a long war. A lot more attention is needed on this topic across the country because the people and organizations pushing for these restrictions are well funded, well organized and relentless. What worries me about this AP article (and others like another linked inside the article) is that it ignores the people organizing these attempts to tie down public libraries. As we've discussed previously on Tildes, many of these efforts are funded and organized by small numbers of financial elites who use methods to hide their own fingerprints on the effort and to make it look like the efforts are grassroots-led. We need to put a spotlight on the organizers and funders.
You might also want to tack in this opinion essay from Emily St. John Mandel: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/17/opinion/public-libraries-book-bans-lgbt.html
Another relevant article about some of the groups behind these bills: https://www.vice.com/en/article/qjbg9v/the-group-banning-lgbt-books-wants-to-replace-them-with-anti-gay-propaganda Here in...
Moms for Liberty, a group known for intimidating school officials and engaging in aggressive behavior at school board meetings, recently began its “Moms for Libraries campaign, which promises to stock school libraries with conservative and anti-LGBT books.
Here in Idaho, we've also seen inroads by MassResistance, a conservative anti-LGBT group.
In my state (Idaho), a similar bill (albeit one that provided a civil cause of action against libraries, rather than criminal liability to librarians as per this Arkansas law and a previous bill...
In my state (Idaho), a similar bill (albeit one that provided a civil cause of action against libraries, rather than criminal liability to librarians as per this Arkansas law and a previous bill in my state) was vetoed and failed an override; however, it's likely to return in the next legislative session. This preliminary injunction and 49-page opinion offers some good legal analysis of this issue.
The federal district judge here looks at both the individual criminal responsibility and the ill-defined challenge mechanism, and finds them vague and overbroad in first-amendment terms. Quite a few good cited cases in here (I did a research memo in my summer internship on a similar aspect of this topic and used some of the cases he cites).
I was about to post this and then saw you already got it. Thanks, @JuDGe3690!
This is a big win, but only one battle in a long war. A lot more attention is needed on this topic across the country because the people and organizations pushing for these restrictions are well funded, well organized and relentless. What worries me about this AP article (and others like another linked inside the article) is that it ignores the people organizing these attempts to tie down public libraries. As we've discussed previously on Tildes, many of these efforts are funded and organized by small numbers of financial elites who use methods to hide their own fingerprints on the effort and to make it look like the efforts are grassroots-led. We need to put a spotlight on the organizers and funders.
Here's a "putting a spotlight on the organizers and funders" effort: Tax complaint filed against rightwing parents’ rights group Moms for Liberty.
Thanks! If I get a second today, I'll also make a post about this one: Real Grassroots Parents Groups Can Fight Extremist Takeovers of Schools
You might also want to tack in this opinion essay from Emily St. John Mandel: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/17/opinion/public-libraries-book-bans-lgbt.html
Another relevant article about some of the groups behind these bills: https://www.vice.com/en/article/qjbg9v/the-group-banning-lgbt-books-wants-to-replace-them-with-anti-gay-propaganda
Here in Idaho, we've also seen inroads by MassResistance, a conservative anti-LGBT group.
More: https://www.npr.org/2022/09/19/1123156201/new-report-finds-a-coordinated-rise-in-attempted-book-bans
In my state (Idaho), a similar bill (albeit one that provided a civil cause of action against libraries, rather than criminal liability to librarians as per this Arkansas law and a previous bill in my state) was vetoed and failed an override; however, it's likely to return in the next legislative session. This preliminary injunction and 49-page opinion offers some good legal analysis of this issue.
I pulled the opinion (dated July 29) from Bloomberg Law's docket search (I have access through law school), and uploaded it to Dropbox, as I don't see it elsewhere: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/x6b3w34bx0nkjjf1fysfz/Fayetteville-Public-Library-et-al-v.-Crawford-County-Arkansas-et-al-Docket-No.-5-23-cv-05086-W.D.-Ark.-Jun-02-2023-Court-Docket.pdf?rlkey=coe57vbkyp5g0fhjkk2cftzlx&dl=0
The federal district judge here looks at both the individual criminal responsibility and the ill-defined challenge mechanism, and finds them vague and overbroad in first-amendment terms. Quite a few good cited cases in here (I did a research memo in my summer internship on a similar aspect of this topic and used some of the cases he cites).