Reports/Statements: “Arkansas Book-Censorship Law Ruled Unconstitutional”

From the Arkansas Times:

A federal judge on Monday ruled the two most contentious parts of Arkansas’s book-censorship law unconstitutional and permanently blocked them from taking effect. An appeal is planned.

Judge Timothy Brooks of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas struck down Sections 1 and 5 of Act 372, which the Legislature passed last year. Brooks had previously entered a temporary injunction in July 2023, preventing the two provisions from taking effect.

Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin issued a one-sentence statement saying that, while he respected the ruling, he would appeal. An appeal would go to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which is traditionally viewed as conservative in its decisions, though it has a mixed record on book-ban-related lawsuits.

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Adam Webb, president-elect of the Arkansas Library Association and executive director of the Garland County Library, said Brooks’ ruling marked “a great day for freedom of speech in Arkansas.”

Webb said librarians across the state “look forward to doing our jobs without the spectre of criminal prosecutions looming over our heads.”

Democracy Forward, a legal group representing the Arkansas Library Association,  Advocates for All Arkansas Libraries and Webb, called Brooks’ ruling “a complete rebuke of … extremists tactics and a win for democracy and the freedom to read.”

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Additional Coverage via the Associated Press

“The law deputizes librarians and booksellers as the agents of censorship; when motivated by the fear of jail time, it is likely they will shelve only books fit for young children and segregate or discard the rest,” [Judge] Brooks wrote in his ruling.

A coalition that included the Central Arkansas Library System in Little Rock had challenged the law, saying fear of prosecution under the measure could prompt libraries and booksellers to no longer carry titles that could be challenged.

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But supporters of the law, known as Act 372, say they will continue to fight for its implementation.

“Act 372 is just common sense: schools and libraries shouldn’t put obscene material in front of our kids,” Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement to KATV-TV. “I will work with Attorney General Griffin to appeal this ruling and uphold Arkansas law.”

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Statements

• Statement From ACLU Arkansas
• Joint Statement From American Booksellers Association, the Association of American Publishers, the Authors Guild, the Freedom to Read Foundation, the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, WordsWorth Books, Pearl’s Books and WordsWorth Books

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