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| ©Aaron E. Martinez/American-Statesman |
A federal court in Austin, Texas, has granted a preliminary injunction requiring Llano County officials to restore all books seized from county library shelves. The ruling also banned the county from removing any further volumes while the court action is underway, and it mandated that the library system's catalog be updated to indicate that the books that were taken are now available again. Many users of Llano County's three libraries filed the complaint in April 2022, saying that county and library authorities violated their First Amendment rights when they deleted some books from the system after certain community members complained about literary messages and content.
The plaintiffs further argue that their 14th Amendment right to due process was violated since no notice of the removal of the books was posted, nor was there a chance to appeal the judgment. According to the court order, the Llano County Commissioners Court dissolved its library board and created a new one in December 2021, assigning some of the defendants in this complaint, as well as other people who advocated for book deletions, to the new board.
The Llano County library board enacted a policy requiring all new books to be presented to and approved by the board before they could be acquired for the library system. The board barred staff librarians and the general public from attending board sessions in February and March 2022. Pitman convened a hearing in October 2022 after the plaintiffs filed a complaint in April 2022. This week's judgment represents a substantial victory for the plaintiffs, while the defendants appeal the decision.
The banned books include:
• Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson
• They Called Themselves the K.K.K.: The Birth of an American Terrorist Group by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
• Being Jazz: My Life as a (Transgender) Teen by Jazz Jennings
• Spinning by Tillie Walden
• In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
• It’s Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex and Sexual Health by Robbie H. Harris
• My Butt is So Noisy! I Broke My Butt! and I Need a New Butt! By Dawn McMillan.
• Larry the Farting Leprechaun, Gary the Goose and His Gas on the Loose, Freddie the Farting Snowman, and Harvey the Heart Has Too Many Farts by Jane Bexley.
• Shine by Lauren Myracle.
• Under the Moon: A Catwoman Tale by Lauren Myracle.
• Gabi, a Girl in Pieces by Isabel Quintero.
• Freakboy by Kristin Elizabeth Clark.
SOURCE: USA Today
