On December 8, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal filed by a group of Texas residents challenging a local decision to remove more than a dozen books from public libraries, allowing the controversial books to remain off the shelves.
The matter began in 2021, when a group of residents in Llano County, northwest of Austin, asked the county library commissioner to remove 17 books from circulation that dealt with topics such as transgender issues and slavery.
The library board ordered librarians to comply with the requirements, prompting another group of county residents to file a lawsuit on First Amendment grounds.
A federal judge ordered county officials to restore the books to the library system in 2023, but the decision was later overturned by five courts.th The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, whose ruling applies to Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi.
In a May 23 order, the court rejected the residents’ free speech claims, saying the First Amendment did not allow them to “invoke their right to receive information to challenge the library’s removal of books.”
The order also states that the management of public library collections is a form of government speech.
“No one banned or burned books,” the court said. “If a disappointed customer cannot find a book in the library, he can order it online, buy it from a bookstore or borrow it from a friend.”
The court said the county was simply making management decisions because it had the authority to do so.
“This is what libraries are for – deciding which books are worth reading and which are not, which ideas are worthy of being put on the shelves and which are not,” the appeals court said. “If you have a question about this, ask the librarian to direct you to the Holocaust Denial Section the next time you visit the library.”
The Supreme Court decided not to hear the case, meaning the ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit remains in effect.
The problem of banned books exists across the United States, especially in public school libraries. According to PEN America, more than 3,700 unique titles will be banned in the 2024-2025 school year. The organization found a total of 6,870 book bans during that period.
Source: Reuters
Brianna Frank is USA TODAY’s First Amendment reporter. Contact her: bjfrank@usatoday.com.
USA TODAY’s coverage of First Amendment issues is funded through a partnership between Freedom Forum and its journalism funding partners. Funders do not provide editorial input.
This article originally appeared in USA TODAY: Supreme Court won’t take up Texas book ban case, pulling books from shelves