"None of These Books Are Obscene": Judge Strikes Down Much of FL's Book Ban Bill

Summary

Kelly is a former librarian and a long-time blogger at STACKED. She's the editor/author of (DON'T) CALL ME CRAZY: 33 VOICES START THE CONVERSATION ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH and the editor/author of HERE WE ARE: FEMINISM FOR THE REAL WORLD. Her next book, BODY TALK, will publish in Fall 2020. Follow her on Instagram @heykellyjensen. View All posts by Kelly Jensen Judge Carlos Mendoza of the U.S. Middle District Court of Florida has ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in a major case related to book banning in the state. The 50-page decision, available here, states that the law used to pull books from Florida public schools is “overbroad and unconstitutional.” Since its passage in 2023, Florida schools have removed hundreds of books under House Bill 1069 (HB 1069). HB 1069 required that school librarians remove materials from their collections that contain “sexual content,” regardless of the value of the book. It also allowed parents or county residents to raise objections to material, which then would need to be removed within five days of the objection and remain unavailable until the book was formally reviewed. The bill laid out no necessary timeline for review of material, nor did it require that material be returned to shelves, even following formal review. Penguin Random House, alongside five other publishers; the Authors Guild; authors Julia Alvarez, Laurie Halse Anderson, John Green, Jodi Picoult, and Angie Thomas; two students; and two parents filed a lawsuit against Florida public officials in August 2024, claiming that the parts of HB 1069 that applied to books permitted widespread removal of materials from schools and were in violation of the First Amendment. The bill led to the removal of books without regard to their literary or artistic value. Trainings by the Florida Department of Education further encouraged school librarians to “err on the side of caution” when it came to materials in the collection, noting that if their libraries had materials with “sexual c...