Arkansas: Federal Judge Rules That Library Book ‘Obscenity’ Law Can Be Enforced, Reversing Previous Decision

From 5newsonline.com:

A judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals has ruled that a 2023 Arkansas law aiming to restrict access to “obscene” books can be enforced.

Act 372, as summarized by Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin, aims to “protect children from obscenity and increase accountability for public-library curation decisions.”

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“The court’s ruling allows Arkansas to move forward in enforcing a law that protects children from obscene materials while increasing accountability for public-library curation decisions,” Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin said in a press release sent out Thursday.

Plaintiffs who sued to block implementation of the law included the Fayetteville Public Library, the Eureka Springs Carnegie Public Library, the Central Arkansas Library System, CALS Director Nate Coulter and Olivia Ferrell. The plaintiffs’ list also included librarians, library patrons, book publishers and book sellers.

In making his determination on the injunction, Brooks said the law was too vague and overly broad. He questioned how librarians might stay on the right side of the law without more clarity and suggested the vagueness invites censorship on the front end, since librarians may be inclined to be overly conservative to keep out of trouble. Act 372 makes furnishing minors with harmful or obscene materials a misdemeanor punishable with up to a year behind bars.

Brooks said the only way librarians and booksellers could comply with Section 1 and still allow those under age 18 to even enter their buildings would be “to keep them away from all books with sexual content.” That content would likely include classics like “Romeo and Juliet,” paperback bodice-rippers, and puberty and sex-ed manuals like “Our Bodies, Ourselves.”

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