I am against local law authorities trying to criminalize librarians. If an area has an issue with books that are deemed inappropriate in a school setting (NOT IN THE LIBRARY FOR ALL) , then set up a community standard (not just based on a couple of book banner kooks, though)
You simply have to read this, it’s unbelievable. A constable, Scott London, in Hood County, went to a Republican club meeting in Granbury where apparently at least a couple of people were talking about banning books in the GISD school library. Hearing about it apparently inspired him so much that he decided, on his own, to approach a couple of notorious book-banners in Granbury, Karen Lowery and Monica Brown, and ask them to file complaints about some books in the library. They were made aware that there could be potential criminal violations.
In an interview with NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth that aired last year, London said the probe was simply a response to the complaint from Lowery and Brown and not driven by his own views.
“If a crime is reported to any law enforcement agency, I would expect the law enforcement agency to investigate the crime,” he said.
Lowery, however, said in an email to reporters last year that it was London who asked if she and Brown would file the complaint after he heard them speak about library books at a local Republican club.
“Monica and I agreed to do so believing we should support law enforcement,” Lowery wrote to NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth.
London investigated for about a year and then turned over his file to the local District Attorney.
Sinclair rejected the felony case because there was insufficient evidence to prove that the librarians used minors to “distribute, exhibit, or display harmful materials,” according to the emails. And at that point, the two-year statute of limitations had expired for misdemeanor charges.
Based on London’s reply, it seemed Sinclair also was not convinced that the books, taken as a whole, met the state’s legal definition of harmful material.
Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, said the case demonstrates the risks librarians now face and the importance of prosecutorial restraint.
Fifth Circuit Court Strikes Down Texas Book Ban Law as Unconstitutional-from January 2024
The Authors Guild is delighted to report that on January 17, 2024, the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upheld a preliminary injunction barring the enforcement of Texas’ ill-named READER Act while the case is still pending. If allowed to take effect, the act would have mandated that any entity supplying books to Texas schools must mark them as “sexually explicit” or “sexually relevant,” as applicable. These ill-defined, vague terms have no basis in existing law, and offer no recourse for judicial review.
The Authors Guild, along with a powerful coalition of Texas bookstores, national booksellers, and publishers, brought this case to defend the right to free expression and protect the long-established rights of local communities to set and implement standards for school materials. The READER Act violates the First Amendment by compelling speech and imposing content-based restrictions.
