In a landmark decision on Wednesday, a federal appeals court declared that a Texas law prohibiting “sexually explicit” books in public schools likely violates the Constitution. The ruling, issued by a unanimous three-judge panel, partially upheld a preliminary injunction from a lower court.
The plaintiffs, comprising two Texas bookstores, three national trade associations representing booksellers, publishers, and authors, and a legal defense fund, asserted that Texas’s Restricting Explicit and Adult-Designated Educational Resources Act (READER) infringes on their First Amendment right to free speech. The READER Act mandates vendors doing business with Texas public schools to provide sexual-content ratings for all library materials and flag any deemed “sexually explicit” or “sexually relevant.”
U.S. Circuit Judge Don Willett, appointed by former President Trump, emphasized the narrow focus of the decision, stating, “Are Plaintiffs likely to succeed on their claims that READER violates their First Amendment rights? Controlling precedent suggests the answer is yes.”
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The court affirmed the preliminary injunction against Commissioner Morath, while vacating it against Chairs Wong and Ellis, instructing the dismissal of the suit against them. The State’s motion for a stay pending appeal was deemed moot.
Texas argued that the law aimed to protect children and challenged claims of free speech by the booksellers, asserting there would be no irreparable harm. The court disagreed, holding that the government-speech doctrine did not apply and that the ratings constituted the vendor’s speech, not the government’s, thus violating freedom of speech.
Highlighting the potential “compliance costs alone” causing irreparable harm to the plaintiffs, the court emphasized that neither the State nor the public had an interest in enforcing a regulation violating federal law.
The 2023 law is part of a trend in GOP-controlled states passing legislation restricting certain books in schools, with proponents arguing they contain inappropriate content related to race, sex, or LGBTQ issues. The court’s decision stands as a significant victory for free speech advocates and may have implications for similar laws across the country.