Report: “Iowa Can Now Enforce Book Ban Law After Appeals Court Overturns Injunction”

From the Des Moines Register:

Appeals court judges on Friday overturned a temporary block of Iowa’s book ban law, allowing the state to enforce restrictions on which books schools can have on library shelves and what subjects can be taught.

Senate File 496, a sweeping education law passed in 2023, has been tangled up in court since last fall. The law bans books that depict or describe sex acts from school, except for religious and health texts. It also prohibits instruction or curriculum about gender identity and sexual orientation through the sixth grade, which some schools have interpreted to include banning books with those themes.

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U.S. District Court Judge Stephen Locher, a President Joe Biden appointee, in December placed a preliminary injunction on the law’s book ban and its restrictions on the instruction of gender and sexuality while the lawsuits continue. He wrote that Senate File 496 is too vague and presents constitutional concerns under the First and 14th amendments.

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The appeals court opinion says that, in a challenge against the entire law, the court would need to properly analyze Senate File 496 under the steps outlined in the recent Moody v. NetChoice case at the U.S. Supreme Court, which dealt with First Amendment challenges to Texas and Florida laws regulating social media platforms.

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The case now goes back to district court in Des Moines, where a judge was directed to reconsider the plaintiffs’ challenges to the law. In the meantime, the lifted injunction means that Iowa public schools are once again required to enforce the law, just in time for students to return to school next week.

In two suits filed in federal court, plaintiffs argued that Senate File 496, signed into law last year by Republican Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds, violates the First Amendment rights of students and book publishers.

One suit was filed by Lambda Legal and the ACLU-Iowa. Joining in that case were eight public school students ages nine to 17 who identify as LGBTQ+, along with their parents. Another, filed by publisher Penguin Random House, was joined by a parent, teachers and school librarians.

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird, a Republican, praised Friday’s decision by the St. Louis-based Eighth Circuit. The decision reversed a preliminary injunction from U.S. District Judge Stephen Locher, a Joe Biden appointee.

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Lambda Legal, the ACLU of Iowa and Jenner & Block — the law firm which represented students and families in challenging the statute — criticized the ruling in a statement of their own.

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Direct to Full Text of Court Opinion
11 pages; PDF.

See Also: Statement From Lambda Legal, the ACLU of Iowa and Jenner & Block 

See Also: Statement From Iowa Attorney General

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