PEN America welcomes the Florida federal court’s decision last week to strike down significant provisions of Florida’s 2023 law (HB 1069), which were used to remove hundreds of books from public school libraries. The district court, in a significant move, recognized that the law’s requirement to remove any book that is “pornographic” or that “describes sexual conduct” without allowing consideration of its literary, political, or educational merit was impermissibly overbroad and is prohibited by the First Amendment. The court also rejected arguments that the removal of books under the statutory scheme constituted “government speech” immune to any First Amendment challenge.
William Johnson, PEN America Florida Director, said:
This ruling makes clear that Florida’s students deserve classrooms and libraries driven by learning, not political theater. The courts have affirmed what we have been saying all along. Our school libraries should be places where young people discover new ideas, not where those ideas are locked away because of political agendas.
Elly Brinkley, Staff Attorney, said:
This decision is a resounding rejection of some of the most dangerous legal theories states have advanced to defend censorship—the ideas that books can be removed without any regard for their literary, social, or educational value, and that decisions about library books are government speech not subject to First Amendment scrutiny. This ruling is not only a victory for the right to read in Florida, but it also provides important precedent that will bolster legal challenges to book bans across the country.
The lawsuit was filed by Penguin Random House and the Authors Guild, joined by five major publishing houses, Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins Publishers, Macmillan Publishing Group, Simon & Schuster, and Sourcebooks, along with bestselling authors Julia Alvarez, Laurie Halse Anderson, John Green, Jodi Picoult, and Angie Thomas, plus local parents and students. They argued that the state law infringes on their First Amendment rights. Penguin Random House and the Authors Guild, together with five major publishing houses — Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins Publishers, Macmillan Publishers, Simon & Schuster, and Sourcebooks — filed the lawsuit alongside bestselling authors Julia Alvarez, Laurie Halse Anderson, John Green, Jodi Picoult, and Angie Thomas, as well as local parents and students. They argue that the state law infringes upon their First Amendment rights.
This decision is an essential step in defending the right to read and access diverse viewpoints. PEN America proudly stands with a coalition of authors, educators, parents, and librarians in protecting the right to read. We will continue to challenge unjust restrictions on literature and work with our free expression partners to prevent any law that allows the arbitrary removal of titles from students’ reach.