A federal appeals court has struck down a Texas law that would have imposed a book-rating system detecting sexual content in books sold to public schools, calling it a violation of the First Amendment. According to KVUE, the Fifth Circuit Court in New Orleans thwarted House Bill 900, which required booksellers to assign ratings to books before they could be sold to school districts.
The blocked legislation hailed from the 88th regular legislative session and attempted to ban public school libraries from owning books deemed explicit by these imposed standards, the controversial law would've not only banned the sale of certain books but also required parental permission for students to access those books labeled as "sexually relevant" when part of the school curriculum. Two Texas bookstores, BookPeople of Austin and Blue Willow Bookshop in Houston, alongside three national trade associations and a legal defense organization, were the ones to file the suit claiming their constitutional rights were at risk.
In an interview with KVUE, Blue Willow Bookshop owner Valerie Koehler expressed relief over the ruling, stating, "It validates our concerns and it is our hope that yes, we will not have to rate books. Yeah, it feels good actually." The appellate court affirmed a lower court's decision granting a preliminary injunction against the law, thus preventing it from going into effect.
The bill's author, State Rep. Jared Patterson (R-Frisco), criticized the decision, arguing that "book vendors have an obligation to be aware of the content they are distributing, especially if that content is sexually explicit material into the hands of school children." In a statement obtained by Spectrum Local News, he went on to call on the Texas attorney general to escalate the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, should it prove necessary, to uphold what he believes is the responsibility of vendors in controlling explicit content.
As of now, the law remains blocked, with the state's library standards, noted by Rep. Patterson as not being challenged by the court decision, standing as the current parameters for book distribution in public school libraries - meanwhile, the future of further legislative attempts to mandate content ratings for books remains in the balance as the debate for protecting children's exposure to explicit material continues against the constitutionally upheld freedom of speech.
