Add thelocalreport.in As A Trusted Source
American Supreme court Has chosen not to hear the appeal of removal of 17 books From public libraries.
Judges upheld lower court ruling that allowed removal of books in rural areas texas County, including those related to topics of race and LGBT identity.
The lower court rejected the argument made by the residents that the removal of the books was unlawful under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution protecting against government infringements of free speech.
The decision by the New Orleans-based 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals applies to the states of Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi, but does not set nationwide legal precedent.
Banning of books in public schools and public libraries has increased in recent years in many places in the United States, driven by conservative groups and new state laws that limit what types of books children can access.
Llano County is a rural area about 80 miles (130 km) from the Texas state capital, Austin. The controversy began in 2021 when a faction of local residents asked the Llano County Library Commissioner to remove the books in question, which covered topics including transgender issues, race and slavery in the United States, puberty and bodily functions such as flatulence.
The 17 works at issue include acclaimed author Maurice Sendak’s 1970 book “In the Night Kitchen,” as its main character, a boy named Mickey, poses in the nude in some of its paintings as he visits a real kitchen in a dream.
The Library Commission ordered librarians to comply with the demands, and residents who pressed for the books’ removal were appointed to the local county board.
A separate group of county residents filed suit to challenge the book ban, alleging that their First Amendment rights were violated.
The issue is a First Amendment principle called the right to receive information. Supreme Court It was long ago concluded that the First Amendment includes a fundamental right to receive information and ideas, because it is essential to the meaningful exercise of other First Amendment rights such as freedom of religion, expression, speech, assembly, and press.
In 2023 a federal judge ordered county officials to restore the books in question to the library system. But the 5th Circuit, in a 10-7 decision, overturned the judge’s decision and sided with the county. The 5th Circuit concluded that public library patrons have no right to receive information under the First Amendment.
Writing for the 5th Circuit, Judge Stuart Kyle Duncan stressed that “no one is banning books” by removing them from libraries.
“If a frustrated patron can’t find a book at the library, he or she can order it online, buy it at a bookstore, or borrow it from a friend,” Duncan, a judicial appointee of Republican President Donald Trump, wrote. “Llano County did here what libraries have been doing for two centuries: decide which books they want in their collection.”
The Supreme Court ruled in a 1982 case that school boards could not remove books because they disliked the ideas contained in those titles. At that point the justices diverged in their reasoning, leaving the scope of the First Amendment right to receive information unclear.
In another case, the Supreme Court in June ruled in favor of Christian and Muslim parents in Maryland who sued to keep their elementary school children out of certain classes if they read storybooks featuring LGBT characters.