Reuters in Jan 2024

A unanimous panel of the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that the law’s requirement that booksellers review and rate books for sexual content before they can sell them to primary and secondary schools was illegal compelled speech under the 1st Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

The law, signed by Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott last June, would have required booksellers to rate books based on their references to sex and empowered the Texas Education Agency to review those ratings. Any books rated explicit could not be sold to public schools and had to be recalled from school libraries.

It is one of several passed in Republican-controlled states seeking to restrict books that conservatives say contain age-inappropriate content on topics such as sex, LGBTQ issues and race.

That was January 2024. So the losers tried to get an en banc hearing at the 5th circuit and LOST AGAIN. (Judge Ho, who is one of the kooks on the 5th circuit, didn’t like the ruling by the majority. He’s one of the lapdogs of Harlan Crow.

Reuters in April 2024

Albright’s ruling did not apply to separate provisions of the law barring school libraries from offering materials that are sexually explicit or otherwise unsuitable for students.

On appeal, the state argued that the rating requirements required booksellers to disclose factual information, similar to warning labels on consumer products. The three-judge 5th Circuit panel said the requirement was too subjective.

Here is the initial decision from Jan 27 2024

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