Report: “Major Publishers Sue Florida Over ‘Unconstitutional’ Book Ban Law”

From The Tampa Bay Times:

A coalition of the nation’s largest book publishers filed a lawsuit Thursday against Florida education officials alleging that a 2023 Florida law that increased scrutiny of school library books unconstitutionally limits free speech.

The lawsuit, which was filed by Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group, Harper Collins and three other publishers in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida in Orlando, also named school board members in Orange and Volusia County school districts.

Florida Department of Education spokesperson Sydney Booker described the lawsuit as a “stunt” in an email to the Tampa Bay Times.

“There are no books banned in Florida,” Booker wrote. “Sexually explicit material and instruction are not suitable for schools.”

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From a Publishers Weekly Article by Andrew Albanese:

Specifically, the August 29 complaint challenges two parts of section 1006.28 of the law: one that broadly prohibits books in public schools that contain any content that “describes sexual conduct,” and another that bans books that contain allegedly “pornographic” content “without consideration of the book as a whole, as the Supreme Court requires.” The suit was filed in the Middle District of Florida, in Orlando, with all of the Big Five Publishers (Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin Random House, and Simon & Schuster) along with Sourcebooks (a majority of which is owned by PRH, but which operates independently) signing on as plaintiffs.

Learn More, Read the Complete Article (about 800 words)

See Also: Publishers Joint News Release (Full Text)

From the Release:

The plaintiffs are represented in the lawsuit by Fred Sperling, Adam Diederich, Kirstie Brenson, Meera Gorjala, and Devin Ross of ArentFox Schiff LLP and David Karp of Carlton Fields.

The lawsuit follows recent legal action by Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins Publishers, Macmillan Publishers, Simon & Schuster, and Sourcebooks against Iowa public officials, challenging the book-banning provisions of Senate File 496 (SF496). Penguin Random House first filed the Iowa lawsuit in November 2023, and is also a plaintiff in a lawsuit filed with PEN America against the Escambia County (Florida) School Board over books that have been unconstitutionally removed.

See Also: Direct to Full Text of Complaint (94 pages; PDF) and Court Docket

Filed under: Companies (Publishers/Vendors), Libraries, News, School Libraries