Report: “Florida 7-Year-Old Compelled to Testify in Book Ban Lawsuit”

From Politico:

 A federal judge ruled Monday that a 7-year-old Florida student must testify in a lawsuit challenging how one school district is carrying out the state’s policies for removing books containing objectionable content.

Magistrate Judge Zachary C. Bolitho denied — in part — a protective order sought by the child’s parent to shield them from being deposed by lawyers for the district about how they have been affected by books being removed from their school.

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tate Republicans passed legislation in recent years opening the door for local book challenges and have since expanded those rules by requiring schools yank contested titles within five days of being flagged for being pornographic, harmful to minors or depicting sexual activity, a shift opponents equate to “book banning.” The state is now trying to limit local book challenges after schools were flooded with hundreds of objections, even for works like Ernest Hemingway’s “For Whom the Bell Tolls.”

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More From the Pensacola News Journal:

Escambia County School Board members have OK’d the removal and restriction of a broad swath of school library books. They include “And Tango Makes Three,” a children’s picture book detailing the true story of a same-sex penguin pair at a New York City zoo.

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Ann Novakowski, J.N.’s mom and another plaintiff in the lawsuit, had argued that the judge should deny the school board’s deposition request.

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But the school board had responded that those suing shouldn’t use the child’s age “as a sword by which to challenge the actions of the Board, only to then use her minority status as a shield to prevent either her participation in the suit she brought or the Board from defending itself from Plaintiff’s claims.”

J.N. and her mom joined other student and parents as plaintiffs in the lawsuit, as well as national free expression group PEN America, publisher Penguin Random House and book authors.

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Filed under: Libraries, News, Publishing, School Libraries