The Supreme Court of the United States decided this Monday (8) not to analyze the appeal presented by a group of Texas residents against a court decision that allowed local authorities to remove 17 books that they considered inappropriate from public libraries.
The justices upheld a lower court’s ruling, which allowed the removal of works — including titles with themes about race and LGBTQIA+ identity — from the public library system. The lower court rejected the plaintiffs’ argument that the removal violated the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which protects against government restrictions on free speech.
The decision by the New Orleans-based 5th Circuit Court of Appeals applies to the states of Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi, but does not set a national legal precedent.
In recent years, there has been a significant increase in book bans in public schools and public libraries in several parts of the United States, driven by conservative groups and new state laws that limit the types of books available to children.
The dispute began in 2021, when a group of residents asked the library commissioner of Llano County, Texas, to remove books covering topics such as transgender issues, race and slavery in the United States, puberty, and bodily functions such as flatulence.
The 17 works in question include the 1970 book “In the Night Kitchen,” by acclaimed author Maurice Sendak (1928-2012), due to the depiction of its protagonist – a boy named Mickey – naked in some illustrations while visiting a surreal kitchen in a dream.
The library commission ordered librarians to respond to requests, and residents who advocated for the removal of books were appointed to the local county council.
Another group of residents filed a lawsuit challenging the ban, arguing that their First Amendment rights had been violated.
Under discussion is a principle known as the right to receive information. The Supreme Court ruled decades ago that the First Amendment encompasses this fundamental right because it is necessary for the exercise of other rights, such as freedom of religion, speech, expression, assembly, and the press.
A federal judge ordered in 2023 that county officials return the books to the library system. But the 5th Circuit, in a 10-7 decision, reversed that order and sided with the county. The court concluded that public library users do not have a right to receive information under the First Amendment.
Writing for the majority, Justice Stuart Kyle Duncan said “no one bans” books by removing them from libraries.
“If a frustrated user cannot find a book at the library, he or she can order it online, purchase it at a bookstore, or borrow it from a friend,” wrote Duncan, appointed to the court by U.S. President Donald Trump. “Everything Llano County has done here is what libraries have been doing for two centuries: deciding what books they want in their collections.”
The Supreme Court ruled in a 1982 case that school boards cannot remove books simply because they disagree with the ideas they contain. But the judges differ on the reasoning, leaving unclear the scope of the right to information guaranteed by the First Amendment.
In another case, the Supreme Court ruled in June in favor of Christian and Muslim parents in Maryland who sued to prevent their elementary school children from accessing certain classrooms where children’s books featuring LGBTQIA+ characters are read.
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