Freedom to Read Penguin Random House and ISEA sue the state
Amicus briefs filed in support of ISEA in PRH v Robbins
Click to read the briefs
School Counselors of Iowa PEN America Constitutional Law Professors at law schools throughout the Eighth Circuit Booksellers National Education Association Freedom to Read Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression Trevor Project One Iowa
What they said:
"NEA has an abiding interest in seeing that its members— including those in Iowa—are not threatened with potential discipline or job loss for alleged violations of vague state laws that invite arbitrary or discriminatory enforcement." - National Education Association
"Rather than respecting local decisions about libraries, tailored to each school’s goals and made democratically by each community, the law imposes statewide criteria that local officials must enforce or be penalized. Worse, the law gives those officials no guidance, setting forth unconstitutionally vague standards and then holding schools liable if they are incorrectly applied." - Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
"Decisions about what books are in a school library should be made at the local level by certified, trained librarians. Every student is different and there is no 'one-size-fits-all' approach as to when a student is developmentally ready to read a particular book. SF496 interferes with these personal, local decisions by banning hundreds of books from library shelves" - Freedom to Read Foundation, Iowa Library Association, and American Association of School Librarians
"This censorship deprives Iowa’s youth of access to the written word and voices of some of the world’s most treasured writers, artists, and thinkers. Writers, too, are now incentivized to avoid complex topics that may be of critical importance to young readers lest their books no longer make it to the shelves. That self-censorship is disastrous for young adult and children’s literature, impeding writers’ abilities to confront difficult ideas and truths and to reach their intended audiences. It likewise denies young readers the exposure to diverse perspectives and stories that reflect their lived experiences." - PEN American Center, Inc.
"As Spaulding recognized in the Library Bill of Rights, libraries are not meant to be repositories for government views, and no reader expects each book in a library to communicate a government-approved message." - Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
Victory at federal court
Download Judge Stephen Locher's decision.
What they said:
"Iowa's SF496 is one of the most bizarre laws I've ever read in my life" - Federal Judge Stephen Locher
"Judge Locher hit the nail on the head when he stated in his decision that the new law 'is incredibly broad and has resulted in the removal of hundreds of books from school libraries….the sweeping restrictions are unlikely to satisfy the First Amendment under any standard of scrutiny and thus may not be enforced while the case is pending.' We are incredibly proud of the thousands of education professionals and employees in Iowa’s public schools. This ruling means they can continue successfully guiding all students without fear of punishment or losing their jobs." - ISEA President Mike Beranek
