Texas library censorship violates First Amendment, federal lawsuit says

A group of local residents are suing Llano County in federal court, alleging that the removal of certain library books for “pornographic content” is really a censorship effort in violation of the first and fourteenth amendments. The county northwest of Austin has been a focal point in the national political fight over library books as conservatives seek to increasingly crack down on childhood content covering racism and LGBTQ issues. The battle is part of a larger offensive with school boards and teachers over the past year. The lawsuit alleges that officials have been “systematically removing award-winning books from library shelves because they disagree with the ideas within them,” and despite policies that prohibits the banning of books because of the “race or nationality or the political or religious views of the writer.”

“The censorship that Defendants have imposed on Llano County public libraries is offensive to the First Amendment and strikes at the core of democracy,” the complaint says. “The right to publish and receive ideas—even politically unpopular ideas or ones that some find offensive or distasteful— is enshrined in our Constitution.” County officials declined to comment. The censored books are based in part on a list maintained by state Rep. Matt Krause, R-Fort-Worth, who called out about 800 titles last year that contained what he called inappropriate content. More than 60 percent of the books relate to LGBTQ issues, according to a Hearst Newspapers analysis, and just under 10 percent touched on issues of race or racism. Books removed from the Llano libraries include “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent,” “They Called Themselves the K.K.K.: The Birth of an American Terrorist Group” and “Spinning.” The authors have each won major, mainstream literary awards for their work.